


When All Else Fails Become a Pirate

by Magical_Persona



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, M/M, Space Pirate AU, pining klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 13:40:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 60,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11186274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magical_Persona/pseuds/Magical_Persona
Summary: Lance's family had been threatened by the government before, but it was nothing like this. They'd never sent a police ship to their house. Now here he was ducking under a window to avoid being seen while his two younger siblings were huddled under his sister's bed and everyone else was in the city. If they hadn't been apprehended by the police already.When the Government/Garrison controls the Earth and the only escape is to enter space which is controlled by an alien dictator who may or may not have Voltron in his clutches sometimes, the only way to save yourself, in hopes of saving your family, is to become a pirate.Mature rating is for a violent rather descriptive scene and I'm working on the last chapter. I switched computers and need to find the motivation to rewrite it.





	1. Everything Changed When the Police Attacked

A young boy with eyes filled with wonder stepped into the night. The sky was filled with stars, he liked the idea that he could reach up and touch them. Knowing he would never actually be able to touch one didn’t stop him from reaching his hand up to the sky.

His eyes sparkled like the stars above his head. He wished he could be up there, but everyone knew it was dangerous. Plus, he had to make a life here. His family was here, on Earth. He looked back to the small house that held all of them. Lance sighed and made his way back toward the house.

No point in staying out here while there were dishes to be washed and siblings to be fed. He stood outside the door just long enough to recompose himself before entering the warm home. His smile was bright and wide. It was almost hard to tell he’d plastered it on. After a minute or two he forgot himself.

There was a girl in his arms and he was singing softly to her in a sad attempt to tire her out. Sometimes, his songs were enough others he wasn’t so lucky. It looked like tonight was going to be harder. His older siblings and parents were out that left him in charge of two little ones. Normally, that wouldn’t have been so bad, but his grandparents had just been told they had to move to the city because they were getting older. Something about a government mandate that wanted all those who needed more care to be in a place where it was easier for them to get it.

No one in his household liked the idea, but the government was the government. People like them who were barely making ends meet didn’t have a choice. They couldn’t throw money around and have the government turn their head. He didn’t want to lose them, but no one had a choice. It hurt.

He looked at his younger sister and forced his smile a bit wider. “Don’t cry. We’ll still see them. We’ll go to the city whenever we can.”

That seemed to do the trick. He hated it. Lying to his siblings was one of the worst things he could ever do, but at this point in time he didn’t have a choice.

“Alright!” Lance said placing his sister on the ground. “Let’s get the two of you to bed.”

“But Lance!” the younger boy whined.

Lance rolled his eyes and dragged his siblings up to bed. That was when he heard the sirens going off. The panicked flared in his heart making his blood run cold.

“Go! Go!” He hurried his siblings up the stairs. “Go! Turn off all the lights and get under the beds!”

When they just stared he gently pushed them into action and they tumbled up the stairs in a hurry. For his part, he ran through the lower level of the house turning off every source of light.

This was wrong. He glared at the flashing lights of a police ship. They shouldn’t be out this far. This was the only house for miles and they were too far from the city for and escapees to be out here.

Now people had no need for farming. All of the food was made in a lab so they could pack as many people onto the Earth as possible. His family had refused to sell and Lance had a feeling this show down had been a long time coming. Too bad it couldn’t have happened when his parents were here.

The ship landed, it’s flashing lights just barely showing through the curtains. Lance's family have been threatened by the government before, but it was nothing like this. They'd never sent a police ship to their house. Now here he was ducking under a window to avoid being seen while his two younger siblings were huddled under his sister's bed and everyone else was in the city. If they hadn't been apprehended by the police already.

He was alone, in the dark with a police cruiser right outside. His only chance would be if he tried to sneak away, but that would leave his siblings with no protection. Lance couldn’t bring himself to do that. He wasn’t the kind of person to just leave his family hanging.

 

Not far above the house and the rather annoying police cruiser was a smaller, much more agile ship. At the moment, it was at a safe distance and the cloaking technology helped tremendously. The young person inside, however, was watching the scene with some contempt.

“Not that I don’t necessarily disagree with our original goal, but we have to do something,” she said over their com links.

“Pidge,” A firm voice came over the link. “We can’t. Just observe.”

Pidge opened her mouth, but said nothing for the time being. All she could do was wait and watch. She did a quick scan of the house to see three people inside. It looked like two of them were upstairs and one was downstairs.

“The police are going in,” Pidge narrated. “There’s five of them. I wonder if they think someone’s going to put up a fight.” She was silent for another moment. “They’ve shot down the door now and whoever was on the bottom floor is moving now. Looks like they’re ignoring that one for now. Don’t think they know someone’s there.” Pidge’s voice had slowly been climbing from excitement and fear. “Okay, okay, one of the police is moving around down stairs the other four grabbed the two people upstairs. Looks like they’re putting up a fight, but they’re smaller.” Pidge took a deep breath. “Now the one police downstairs is out. Guess the hider got the better of him.” After that narrating was less necessary as the two children were dragged outside.

The four police stared at one another like chickens for a few seconds. Like they were counting to make sure all of them were there.

“We need to step in,” another voice came over the intercom. “Pidge, I’m getting a ship. Stay hidden until I can get to you.”

“Keith!” Shiro snapped over the coms. “Keith, get back here!”

“They’re going to keep doing this!” Keith replied. “They don’t care! They’re going to keep tearing families apart and we have the power to stop them! We have the power to make sure no one else ends up like us or like Pidge!” He forced himself to regain a bit of composure. “Besides, it’s one cruiser Pidge and I can take it.”

There was no response to that. Chances were Keith had angered Shiro just enough to get the poor man to have to count to ten. Some days everyone was amazed by the amount of strength Shiro had.

“Pidge, I’m on my way,” Keith’s voice broke the silence of the coms.

“You better hurry,” Pidge warned. “Whoever’s in that house is about to come out.”

For the first time Pidge was able to see Lance. Even from where she sat hovering in her pod she could see how shaken he was. He wasn’t old enough to be their dad so she figured he was an older sibling. She knew what it was like to be one of the kids with a gun to your head while the police threatened your family. Being on the other end of that was only something she could imagine.

Lance had managed to wrestle a blaster from the policeman who was currently lying dead on the kitchen floor. Or at least unconscious. Lance hoped he wasn’t dead, but there was no telling whether he’d hit the man hard enough with the frying pan to do that.

Now he was aiming that blaster at one of the police who wasn’t holding his siblings.

“Let them go,” his voice was low and some part of him was proud that his voice didn’t shake. “If you let them go you won’t have any problems with me.”

“We won’t have any problems with you either way,” one of the men assured him as he raised a gun to his sister’s head.

She looked at him with wide, terrified eyes and he looked to see that same expression mimicked on his brother’s face. He wanted to protect them, but there were four officers and only one of him. Even if he shot one of them the others would still have time to kill him or his siblings. He was running out of options and fast.

That was when a small craft, about half the size of the cruiser, flashed between the clouds. A barrage of lasers hit the police cruiser. Most were reflected by the metal and shields of the ship making it dangerous for everyone standing nearby. There were other shots that managed to make the metal smoke, but did no obvious damage.

What was accomplished, however, was the retreat of the police. Lance watched as the retreated. He raised the blaster he was holding, aimed to the best of his ability, forced himself to release his breath, and fired. Some sick part of his brain felt pride when one of the officers went down. He then felt hopeless as he watched the doors of the cruiser close while his siblings screamed for them to help.

They needed someone to save them. They needed him, but he couldn’t do it. He was just Lance. He barely knew how to shoot a blaster, that really had just been a lucky shot. He wasn’t a savior and he sure as hell couldn’t save his siblings from a worldwide government.

Pidge removed the cloaking from her ship and landed behind the house. She ran through the small living area and grabbed Lance by the collar. Before he could even think properly enough to aim the gun at this new threat he was disarmed.

“We’re here to help,” Pidge assured him. Or at least she tried. She did end up coming off as a bit snarky.

“My siblings!” Lance snapped, pulling out of her grip. “I have to save them!”

“What can you do?” Pidge asked. “You have a blaster and no way onto the ship. Live to fight another day. Come back when you’re stronger when you have a better chance of you and your family surviving.”

Something from the cockpit of her pod started beeping and she practically pulled him out of the house.

“What’s that?” Lance asked, feeling Pidge’s panic become his own.

“A warning,” Pidge replied as she pulled him into the pod. “They’re targeting your house.” She poked at a few buttons and flipped a few switches before the pod lifted off the ground and turned almost 180.

Lance had never had the chance to see a ship on the inside before. Nor had he ever known a ship to be capable of the fast flying and maneuvers this one was managing. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to admire them as he was being tossed about in the cockpit.

“Would you buckle up! What are you doing!” Pidge snapped, grabbing his arm and shoving him into the seat next to her.

Lance strapped in just in time to watch as the police cruiser peppered his home with lasers. Each gun shot was like a stab to his heart as he watched his home crumble. It was almost a physical pain. Now he truly had nowhere to return. All that would be left was a pile of rubble and it hurt.

“I’m employing stealth mode,” Pidge said through the com as she raised some sliding bars on her holographic control panel.

“Keith, you get out of radar and do the same,” Shiro said over the coms. “Then return to the ship.”

Pidge glanced over at Lance. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to find, but a scared teen not too much older than herself clutching a police blaster wasn’t it. Part of her wondered if that was what Matt looked like one they were on the ship that took him and her father away.

“Are you hurt?” Pidge asked as she flew into the atmosphere.

Lance shook his head. He couldn’t bring himself to talk just yet. His head was still playing back the look on his sibling’s faces as they were taken, kicking and screaming, onto the ship. He wished he could have done something. Maybe if he’d shot faster. Maybe if he was smarter. He was hurt, but it wasn’t a hurt anyone could fix.


	2. When in Doubt Talk it Out

The larger ship they used as a base wasn’t visible. They were to too close to Earth to risk a floating castle being seen in the sky. It was better that the cloak stayed up until they were in more open space with less patrols. Despite not being able to see the ship until the bay doors opened Pidge had no trouble landing.

Lance was in a bit of awe as he watched someone younger than himself pilot with that amount of ease. The bay was cleaner than he expected and the lights glinted off the walls in a way that almost hurt his eyes.

He waited until Pidge was unbuckling to do the same. They then made their way to the main part of the ship, through a long hall that connected to another long hall which connected to another that led into a sort of living room area.

Waiting for them were three people in various stages of alarm or comfort. One was a woman with long white hair. She looked beautiful and on a normal day Lance would have flirted, but he wasn’t feeling it right now. Not when the loss of his family was still fresh in his mind and his heart. There was also a man with orange hair and a crazy mustache. Ha had strange markings under his eyes much like the woman. The third man Lance recognized almost instantly. He looked a bit different from his pictures on the wanted posters, but it was still him.

“You’re Shiro,” Lance said to the man with a white tuft of hair falling across his forehead. “I’ve seen posters for you.”

A small frown creased Shiro’s forehead, “So they’re still after me?”

“We did take down one of their larger bases,” Pidge reminded him.

The woman gave him a gentle smile. “You’ll be safe here until we can find you some place to go.”

Lance was about to nod when his brain caught up with him. What good would some place safe do him if his family was who knows where and being forced to do who knows what?

“No,” Lance forced himself to speak. “I won’t hide while my family is in danger. I refuse.”

Shiro and the woman exchanged a look before the other man stepped in.

“Why don’t we let those to talk,” he said taking Lance’s hand and more or less dragging him out of the room. “What’s your name?”

“Lance,” the teen replied still debating on whether or not he wanted to force a smile.

“Well, Lance, it’s good to have you on the team,” the alien, he was definitely an alien, said happily. “I’m Coran.” He stopped in front of some random door.

Lance really wasn’t sure how he’d be able to tell them apart. Hopefully he’d get it down soon.

“You can stay here,” Coran informed him cheerily. “I’ll send Hunk over with some food. Everyone seems to like his cooking better anyhow.”

Lance smiled. It was clearly a sore spot with the man, but the way he said it in more of a playful manner made Lance feel almost at home. If nothing else, he knew he would at least get along with Coran. Coran waved his hand over a sensor which then popped open a hologram. He pressed a few buttons and the door slid open.

“That should do it!” Coran exclaimed. “The doors should be working now so you can just walk in whenever. Now go on and get some rest.”

Lance nodded, entering the room. As he did the lights flicked on rather politely. They didn’t just start out glaringly bright. They went from dimmed to bright, giving his eyes the chance to adjust. It was a good touch.

“Thank you, Coran,” Lance said before he took stock of the room.

It was bare, not that he was surprised. He was surprised to see that it was clean in the way of dust. Someone took care in keeping it that way. Probably Coran, judging by the way he knew how everything worked. Plus, Coran reminded him of that family guy that was more at home taking care of things than shooting at people.

Lance plopped onto the covered bed. The bed itself was more comfortable than he’d expected. Growing up poor left much to be desired in the way of beds. He then looked to the far side of the room to see a desk. Just like the rest of the room, it was clean. Lance was actually surprised to see a chair under it. He’d always figured it would be dangerous to have something like that.

In his mind, he imagined hitting a bit of turbulence and the chair flying around the room. It was over dramatic, sure, but his point still stood. It was dangerous to have a chair just sitting there if it wasn’t going to be tied down. Was it tied down? He realized he’d never actually checked and yes. There were little clips on the floor that held each leg steady.

Lance nodded, satisfied with the room he’d been given. It wasn’t his room. He didn’t think it would ever be. Nothing could compare with the memories he’d had. Like when his little brother took all of the pillows and blankets and built a fort to surprise him. Or when he had his first girl over and the whole time everyone was teasing him. They really were only doing homework. Then all of those sick days and the “sick” days. When his mom would bring him soup and he would try to put on a smile even though he usually felt horrible.

He’d never have that again. It was gone, his home was gone. What could he do now? Where would he even go? Would these people really help him? Would they help his family? He didn’t know. He hated not knowing.

Lance didn’t realize he’d been crying until the door opened. He hurriedly wiped away his tears and looked toward the door. A teen about his age, but much larger stood carrying a tray piled with food.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked or how hungry you’d be,” he explained. “You don’t have to eat all of it.” Then he actually saw Lance. “You were…Are you okay?”

Lance was a bit surprised when the bigger teen sat beside him after placing the tray on the desk.

“We’ve all been there,” the boy assured him. “Allura and Coran lost their entire planet to this Zarkon guy. Pidge is still looking for her family. I was taken from mine.” Hunk shook his head. “My point is, we all know what it’s like to be in your shoes. Maybe not exactly, but we’re here for you.”

Lance forced himself to smile. “Thanks. For that and the food. Did you make all that?”

Hunk looked proud of himself, but humbled as well. “Yeah. It’s a gift.”

“The name’s Lance,” he said holding out his hand.

“Hunk,” the cook replied.

They shook hands and Lance was feeling just a bit better. That was the thing with smiles and a distraction. You could convince yourself everything was fine. He tried a bit of the food Hunk had brought him and smiled for real.

“This is amazing!” Lance exclaimed. “You could get paid for this!”

Hunk laughed. “I kind of did once.”

“Kind of? Do tell,” Lance managed between bites. It was off how stress made someone so hungry.

“We went to a mall once to pick up some supplies,” Hunk explained. “I can’t even remember what we needed. We all ran off in different directions and I ended up in the food court. I was trying all these free samples and turns out some people have no concept of samples. I didn’t have money at the time and no one from the crew was around.” Hunk’s smile was something Lance liked to consider the sun. It beamed brightness down on everyone. “So, here I was unable to pay for what I’d eaten. The Galra guy—“

Lance nearly spit his mouthful off food out. “Galra? Those are the guys in charge of the universe! How are you still alive?”

“Not all of them are bad,” Hunk said with a smile. “I promise. But anyway, this Galra guy had me cuffed to the sink and I was cleaning dishes. The food was gross and it was even worse after people had decided it wasn’t worth their money. The robot that he had cooking broke and I knew it was my time to shine. I convinced him to uncuff me and I started cooking. It didn’t take long at all for us to have a line. That was when the mall cop showed up and I had to go. I’m pretty sure Keith did something.”

“That’s one heck of a story,” Lance said before taking a bite of something that looked like a burger, but tasted so much better.

Hunk smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Thanks, but I think my favorite part was when I got my first customer. She ate our food and smiled. The Galra thought her face was breaking. I had to explain that when someone likes something they smile. It’s both funny and a bit sad.” Hunk’s smile dropped for a second. “I think the Galra are just like Earth’s government. Not all of them are bad, but the ones who could be convinced to stand up against it are too few in comparison to the many who think they have to do as they’re told. We’ll bring change to the world.”

Lance stopped eating for a moment to look at Hunk. “I hope you’re right.”

Hunk smiled once more. “You know, I think Allura and Shiro will keep you on the team. Coran likes you and so does Pidge.”

“Despite her standoffishness?” Lance teased as he remembered being tossed around the cockpit of her pod.

Hunk laughed. “You can’t call Pidge standoffish until you’ve met Keith. He’s the definition of standoffish.”

“Can’t wait,” Lance mumbled.

“They’re not that bad,” Hunk assured him. “They just take a while to open up to people. Keith especially. He’s like a cat.”

Lance nodded and looked at the empty tray suddenly feeling a bit fat. Before deciding it didn’t matter. He wasn’t feeling well, he was allowed to eat as much as he wanted.

“I can take that if you want,” Hunk offered. “Tomorrow I’ll show you around.”

Lance handed over the tray. He waited until Hunk was gone to climb into bed. Tomorrow was a new day. He could smile tomorrow.

 

Hunk was walking to the kitchen when he heard Allura’s slightly raised voice. He had a feeling she and Shiro were still speaking. He was just going to quietly slip past the living room when he heard Keith chime in.

“Pidge and I saw him shoot,” Keith said. “He’s good. We could use that.”

“He doesn’t know anything about flying!” Allura reminded him.

“Flying can be taught,” Shiro pointed out.

To Hunk it sounded like a circular argument. He stepped into the room to see Pidge in the corner typing away at a computer. She was probably trying to avoid the scene.

“We know he wants to find his family,” Hunk said. “He’s not a bad person. A little scared, but there’s good in him. We all saw that. He doesn’t want to be left behind on some planet which means he’s going work harder than some random Joe. I say we give him a chance. Keith’s right. He knows how to shoot. He needs practice and he isn’t great with a blaster, but he knew what he was doing. When I first got here I didn’t know how to pilot either. I learned and I’m pretty sure he can too.”

Pidge snorted from behind her laptop. “Remember when Hunk used to get sick riding the elevators?”

“Thank you, Pidge,” Hunk feigned anger.

“I like him,” Coran piped up. “I think it’ll be good to have someone around. Don’t you, number 5?”

“I thought I was four,” Pidge sounded only half offended.

“You were, but he’s taller than you so you are now number 5,” Coran explained matter-of-factly.

Pidge rolled her eyes and went back to typing. That was that. Coran rarely used those nicknames anymore. He’d learned their names by now.

Coran straightened his mustache before spinning off toward the kitchen causing Allura to roll her eyes.

“He can stay,” Allura agreed. “But if he puts us in danger he’s gone.”

“He can’t put us in any more danger than Keith,” Pidge pointed out. “At least he knew to stop shooting.”

“Hey!” Keith exclaimed spinning toward her, ready to defend himself.

“No, Pidge is right,” Shiro replied. “You shouldn’t have run off like that. We were only here to observe, not get involved.”

“I did what was right,” Keith retorted. He wasn’t going to apologize for that. That kid needed their help and he helped.

“I know,” Shiro replied. “Next time run it by us so we can help. You don’t have to do everything on your own anymore.”

Keith nodded. Shiro was worried. Keith had a feeling Shiro always worried about them, but didn’t say it. He knew they could take care of themselves, but Shiro also liked to feel like he was playing a part in keeping them safe. Keith was going to have to remember that. It wasn’t like he didn’t know it already, but putting it like that made more sense to him.

“Now you three get some sleep,” Shiro said. “We have a long day ahead of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this isn't an eventful chapter. This is probably going to be a slower fic in the beginning, but it will pick up so don't worry too much. Also there is going to be a lot of banter between the characters. Voltron has a good bit of it anyway, but I thrive off it.


	3. To Fight the Training Bot

Lance woke up, rubbing his eyes. At least he didn’t have to figure out where he was. He remembered everything that happened last night. His family was gone, but at least this group of Space Pirates found him. They helped him out.

He forced himself to roll out of bed and get ready for the day. He didn’t have anything close to what he’d use for his skincare routine. That saddened him a bit, but it was what it was. He’d just have to do with washing his face.

There was a knock at Lance’s door. “Hey.” Hunk’s voice traveled in. “I wanted to show you around. Plus, breakfast is ready.”

Lance’s stomach growled at the mention of food. “Yeah! Sure, I’m coming!” The door opened to show Lance standing in the middle.

Hunk gave him a humor filled smile and Lance shrugged.

“What? You’re cooking is good,” Lance explained.

Hunk motioned for him to follow. “Thanks. Now you’ll get to meet everyone. Keith was giving those police the run around while Pidge brought you back. It took him a while to get off their scanners so you didn’t get to meet him.”

Lance was nearly struggling to keep up with Hunk. For a big guy, Hunk could move pretty quickly. It was a bit surprising, but Lance just figured he was mostly muscle under that fluff.

Hunk led him to the dining room where Pidge and Shiro were already eating. Lance sat beside Pidge. She had saved him so he figured she was cool enough to sit by.

“It’s Lance, right?” Shiro asked. When Lance nodded he continued. “We’re glad to welcome you to the team.”

Pidge nodded, but was too absorbed in whatever was on the screen of her phone to actually respond.

“The team?” Lance asked curiously.

“We’re Pirates,” a boy with black hair said, walking into the room.

There was something about him Lance didn’t like. He couldn’t put it in words, but he didn’t like it. There was something about those purple eyes that put him on edge. He looked like the kind of person who would jump into a situation without thinking about how it might affect others. It bothered him.

“Who are you?” Lance asked, a hint of sharpness in his voice.

“Keith,” The teen replied, eyes narrowing. “What about you?”

“Lance,” he replied, sitting taller in his seat.

Pidge glanced up from her phone. “You can almost smell the testosterone.”

“Stow it, you two,” Shiro already looked like he regretted his decision. Thankfully, for him Allura chose to join them in that moment.

“It’s good to see you awake and getting along with everyone,” Allura said, taking a seat at the head of the table.

“No one told me we were living with an angel,” Lance said offering Allura his best smile.

Allura shook her head, rolled her eyes, and gave an annoyed huff.

Keith, for his part sat beside Lance. If anyone asked it was to keep an eye on the new comer. He looked like trouble.

Hunk placed the food at the table before sitting as well. He rolled his eyes inwardly at the two across the table. If nothing else those Lance and Keith would push each other and the team would be better for it. Neither of them looked like the type of person to go at one another to maim or injure.

Lance ate in more silence than his family would have expected. He was more content to allow the others to talk around him. However, when there was a lull in conversation he piped up.

“So, what are your jobs?” He asked.

Coran, who had joined them by now, answered. “Allura is the princess”

“Of salt,” Pidge muttered just loud enough for Lance to hear.

“She is the ships pilot and the only one able to create the wormholes we use to travel,” Coran continued without hearing Pidge. “Shiro is your leader. He commands the troops, that’s you guys. Number 5,”

“Me,” Pidge muttered once more.

“Is our resident tech expert,” Coran explained, happily swinging his spoon around. “Then there’s Hunk who rather rudely took my cooking job.”

“No one wanted to eat that Coran,” Hunk protested. “It had puss leaking out of it!”

“That’s how you know it’s cooked right!” Coran replied. Lance figured it was a sore spot, but Coran continued. “He’s also our mechanic. Keith is our best pilot. He has the ability to maneuver one of those ships with amazing speed and very little effort! It’s truly amazing to watch.”

“Looks like a hot head,” Lance muttered to Pidge, who snorted.

Keith’s eye twitched, but he otherwise ignored the jab. If that’s how the new guy wanted to play, fine. Keith could play that game too.

“I have the most important job,” Coran said proudly. “I keep everything clean and tidy. I also help Allura with the defenses and weaponry.”

“He’s a maid,” Pidge said a bit more loudly, but this time there was teasing and a gremlin-like smile behind it.

“I’d be more, but someone decided they didn’t like my cooking,” he replied with a huff.

“I think we call them Nannies,” Lance added.

“He’s right,” Hunk agreed. “They take care of children and clean the house.”

“They’re basically moms when the kid’s real mom would rather pay someone than see her kid,” Lance added. If he sounded bitter he couldn’t help it. He’d never understood why someone would want kids if they never planned on interacting with them. It just didn’t make sense.

“Harsh,” Hunk said quietly.

“But not wrong,” Pidge added.

Hunk shrugged. He wasn’t going to argue with that, mostly considering in his mind there wasn’t a point to argue. Still, he’d thought Lance came off a little harsh. Though, now that he thought about it Lance was a family man. He wanted to be with his family, heck he kept saying he wanted to get them back. It made sense he would have a strong bond with them.

Shiro looked at Allura, clearly done with this conversation. “Princess, when are we expected to arrive at our next location?”

“A quintent at most,” Allura replied.

“Good, Lance can use that time to train,” Shiro said with a nod.

“Wait! We’re leaving?” Lance asked.

“We can’t stay on Earth,” Keith pointed out.

“I can’t leave my family!” Lance exclaimed. “Who knows what’s happening to them!”

“I understand,” Shiro assured the boy. “Right now, you don’t have the training to defend yourself or save them. Prepare yourself for battle and once you’re ready we’ll get them. Until then there are more people in need of rescue.”

Lance huffed, but he didn’t disagree. Shiro made a valid point, as much as he hated waiting it would be better if he could go in guns blazing and get out the same way, his family safe.

“Okay,” Lance said with a nod. “Let’s get training!”

“Hunk,” Shiro said, his voice ringing with a tone of command. “I want you to take Lance to the training deck. Teach him how to shoot. Coran and Pidge will go with you.” He then looked at Coran. “Make adjustments as you see fit.”

Coran nodded as he and Pidge ran off conspiring in whispers.

“Keith, I want you on deck,” Shiro continued as Lance followed Hunk to the training area.

“So, that Keith guy,” Lance started, glancing back as the doors to the dining room slid closed. “He’s looks like a firecracker.”

Hunk shrugged. “He works well with others, surprisingly. But I’m going to teach you how to shoot. You did some nice work with that blaster last night, but you were a bit slow. I’m going to teach you how to shoot quickly and with precision.”

Lance nodded. He wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew his work with the blaster had been nothing more that luck. It wasn’t that he’d never shot before, but it was different when it was a person rather than an animal attacking your livelihood.

“Okay,” Lance said as he followed the other into the room.

First Hunk helped Lance pick out the armor he would wear. It was nowhere near as cool as Hunk’s. Hunk’s armor was white with yellow accents that looked like they were in the shape of a V. In all honesty, it looked much cooler than the black padded training armor Lance was wearing.

“When do I get the cool armor?” Lance asked.

“Allura is going to say when you earn it,” Hunk replied. “If it were me I’d give it to you now. I don’t think she knows what it’s like to be hit by training drones with what you’re wearing, but Allura flies the ship. That makes her the boss.”

That made Lance a bit nervous about going onto the training deck. If Hunk, the big guy, was talking about how much those hits hurt Lance was in for it.

Hunk tapped something on the wall and a panel slid away revealing guns and swords. “Okay. Here,” Hunk pulled a small pistol-like blaster from the shelf. “This one suits you better than anything else. Maybe next time Keith can teach you how to use a sword.” Hunk pulled a strange triangular thing from his pocket which activated it. From there it turned into a large blaster, one much bigger than Lance could ever hope to hold up, let alone shoot.

“Dude! That’s amazing! Where can I get something like that?!” Lance asked.

“It’s called a bayard,” Hunk replied. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

Hunk then took Lance into the next room which was the training deck. He waved to Pidge and Coran who could be seen through a window on an upper level. “This first exercise is so you can practice hitting a moving target. Your weapon is used to distance shooting so I’ll give you covering fire as best I can.”

Hunk pulled his weapon up aiming easily at the training bot that fell. Lance was surprised by how quickly that thing moved. It was so much taller than him or Hunk, but it moved so much faster than their ships. He found himself backing up, trying his best to shoot at the training bot, but missing every time.

Part of him felt bad for making fun of clones not being able to shoot. He remembered when his family would watch reruns with the old Star Wars. He and his siblings would talk about how horrible their shooting was. Now he was pretty sure he understood why. It was nearly impossible for him to hit the drone. Then the pole, that drone was swinging, caught him in the stomach. It knocked the wind right out of him and he collapsed to the floor, out of breath with his blaster spinning away.

Hunk was not kidding about the amount of strength the thing had. His entire body hurt and he’d only been hit once. Hunk shot at the robot and after a barrage it went down. Lance tried to pull himself up, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful for Hunk’s help in the matter.

“Are you hurt?” Hunk asked as he pulled Lance to his feet.

“No,” Lance replied. “Just a little out of breath. You weren’t kidding. That thing packs a punch.”

Hunk nodded. “I tried to warn you. You wanna take a little break?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m good to go again.”

Hunk looked doubtful, but waved once more to Coran and Pidge. So, the training went on. Lance would get knocked down only to pick himself back up and start again. Lance wasn’t really sure how long it lasted until he couldn’t really feel anything anymore.

After about three hours Shiro joined Pidge and Coran on the observation deck. “Is he still going at it?”

“Yes,” Coran was stroking his mustache. “He hasn’t progressed passed level one and he still hasn’t given up. He’s got guts. That’s for sure.”

“Guts won’t win the war,” Shiro reminded him. He stayed for a bit to watch while Pidge puttered away at her computer. He leaned over to get a glance at Pidge’s screen. “What are you doing?”

“Considering,” came the short reply.

“You’re going to have to give me more than that. I’m not a mind reader, Pidge,” Shiro teased lightly.

“I’m considering putting a training cap on Hunk’s bayard,” Pidge replied. “I’m wondering if Lance is relying too much on Hunk being there to have his back. We didn’t have that much skill or fire power backing us when we first started.”

Coran looked offended. “You can’t do that! A bayard is a reflection of the person! It’s practically a manifestation of the soul! You can’t just hack it like one of your droid thingies!”

Shiro shook his head. “Leave him be. It’s his first day. If he’s still struggling a week from now then I’ll consider it.”

Coran was still rather offended when he turned back to see Lance once again go flying across the room. Hunk got off a good shot at the bot’s heart and it came crashing to the ground. He then ran to Lance’s side and picked the teen up.

“He’s been at this for about five of your Earth hours,” Coran said. “He could probably use a break.”

Shiro nodded. He pressed a button on the control panel. “Lance, Hunk, take a break.

“I’m hungry!” Pidge shouted.

Shiro watched Hunk laugh before the teen waved his acknowledgement.

“Looks like you’ll be getting dinner soon, Pidge,” Shiro assured her. He watched Pidge’s smile grow and he shook his head. Some days he felt like a baby sitter, others their father.

Today he got to be their friend. Those were the days that made him happier than anything else. That being said he felt more pride on the days he felt like their father. It wasn’t fun being the leader of a group of kids being only a few years older than them.

It took a lot of effort and it wasn’t always fun, but his three were doing good. He was proud of how far they had come since they had been in Lance’s shoes. Now he had a chance to start again. Maybe he’d make less mistakes this time.

He laughed inwardly at the thought. It didn’t matter how many times you had to restart. Everyone made the same mistakes. It was difficult for anyone to figure out how to interact with people. Especially, to raise them. Now he had to train Lance after a stressful situation like that. It would be hard for anyone.

He looked down at his prosthetic. He frowned at the robotic arm and flexed his fingers. He’d failed once. He lost the team he had considered family. When that happened he let Pidge, Matt, Sam, and himself down. He couldn’t save them and that hurt. Almost more than the ghost pains. The tingling he knew wasn’t really there.

He looked at Pidge, looking at the hope that still filled her eyes. Her hope had been rekindled with the addition of Lance. That was something he needed with these three. If they lost hope he lost his team. He watched as Lance dragged himself off the training deck. The kid looked exhausted, but somehow, he had a ridiculous smile on his face. The smile was almost infectious.

 

It was only an hour or two after that that they were sat around the table eating.

“Ya know,” Lance said, flicking his fork. “I think I’m getting the hang of that robot drill.”

“You’re only on level one,” Pidge reminded him.

“Yeah, but I feel like I’m really starting to figure it out,” Lance added before stuffing something he didn’t recognize in his mouth.

“Don’t get to cocky,” Keith said, sitting beside him. This kid was going to be the death of him. Lance couldn’t even defeat the bot on level one and he was bragging? Who was he trying to impress? His eyes were drawn to the head of the table where Allura sat. That was probably who. Figures.

“Keith,” Shiro said, drawing to boy’s attention. “I’m going to need you to take Lance out in one of the pods and teach him how to fly.”

Keith looked at Shiro like he was an idiot. “Shiro, I know he needs to learn. But can he please learn to hold his own first. Then put him in a giant metal death trap. With me?”

Shiro wanted to laugh. It was tempting and he may have let a smile slip through. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”

“Of what?” Keith hissed, just barely remembering they were whispering to each other.

Shiro was really holding back a laugh now. “So, you’re telling me you aren’t jealous that we pick up a cute-ish boy who may or may not be able to hold his own against you and he’s spending his time flirting with Allura.”

Keith glared at him. It wasn’t like that, probably. No, that wasn’t it. He had offered to pick Lance up because he needed help. It wasn’t because he was cute. It’s not that he wasn’t, but that’s not why Keith had suggested they pick him up. Lance had needed their help. It was their job to help those in need.

“What?” Shiro asked, his voice filled with laughter. “I know your type. I am practically your brother.”

Keith was done at that point, pushing Shiro out of the chair in embarrassment. “Shiro!”

“What?” Shiro asked laughing as Keith stomped away. “I’m just trying to help a brother out.” Keith was nearly out the door so he figured he needed to be a bit louder. “But I need to you teach Lance how to fly! I was serious when I said that!” Shiro was still laughing when he used the table to pull himself up.

When he realized everyone was staring at him he shrugged. “It was worth it.”


	4. Taking Flight

Lance was sitting in the pilot seat of the pod. He was terrified. Keith was sitting beside him and hadn’t stopped glaring since he sat down. Lance’s blue eyes kept shifting to where Keith sat. This was the one of the worst experiences of his life. He looked at the glowing dashboard and he was so confused.

There were so many buttons and there were so many things that were begging to be pressed, but at the same time they were telling him he was going to blow everything up.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Keith asked.

“Of course, I do!” Lance snapped. He pressed a few buttons before taking the joystick between the two seats in his hand. He pushed the stick forward and the pod flew out of the bay door almost before they were fully opened. Now they were in open space with no landmarks save the castle.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Keith snapped. This kid was going to kill him. This was it, this was how he died. It wasn’t the blaze of glory he’d hoped, but it would at least be a blaze.

“I told you I did!” Lance shouted back as he pulled the pod toward the sky. “See it’s not that hard.”

“If it’s not that hard then you should have no trouble flying level,” Keith goaded.

Lance jerked the stick forward and the pod took a nose dive toward the ground. With a growl Keith snatched the controls from Lance, holding the stick in his left and pulling the holographic controls to his side. He pressed a series of buttons before the pod leveled out. Once he was sure there wasn’t any damage done to the pod he glared at Lance.

“I thought you knew what you were doing!” Keith shouted.

“I told you I had it under control!” Lance retorted.

“Lance, you could have gotten us killed,” Keith pointed out. “You had no idea what you were doing!” He closed his eyes. He just had to be patient. Lance was still getting used to everyone. Heck, somewhere in Lance’s brain he was probably thinking he could impress Allura by showing off his flight skills. Unfortunately for Keith, Lance had no idea what he was doing. “Next time, don’t try to bluff it out. If you don’t know what you’re doing it’s okay to say so. No one is expecting you to know everything.”

Keith let his sentence drop into the silence as he waited for Lance to speak.

Lance stared at the dark void of space hoping it would swallow him up. He looked like a fool. This was almost as bad as the time he and his mom had gone swimming and he’d gotten taken under by the ocean’s currents. He hadn’t meant to be that far out, but by the time his head came up he had no idea where his mom was. He had been tired and he just wanted to be out of the water. When he made it back to the sandy beach he had to pretend everything was okay. He couldn’t worry his mom anymore. He felt so embarrassed if he had just listened in the first place. Lance shook his head.

“Keith,” his voice was quieter than usual. “I don’t know how to fly.”

Keith nodded, sliding the holographic controls in front of Lance. “There’s a nob, next to the three levers on the left of the screen. Those levers are going to be your fuel control and boosters. The nob is for steady flying. It’ll give you a cruise speed. This gage here,” Keith pointed to one with a slowly dropping number. “Is your fuel level. If you’re not back to the castle when that hits about thirty you should panic.”

“Or cry,” Hunk’s voice added over the intercom. “Crying is always an option as well.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “If didn’t bother you during your training. Please don’t bother me.”

“Right, just wanted to let you know there are some ships headed our way,” Hunk explained.

Keith glanced toward the hologram, directioning for Lance to look at a box in the lower right-hand corner. There were three blips in the box.

“Pidge, can you get me a better look at those ships?” Keith asked. “Lance and I can check it out before they get too close.”

Lance looked at Keith like he was crazy.

“I’d have to get a scan of them,” Pidge replied. “I don’t have the technology to scan them from here.”

“No,” Lance said. “Nonononono! You are not leaving me in this giant metal death trap with this guy! C’mon he’s gonna get me killed!”

Keith ignored him. “We’ll get close for you. Is this pod fitted with a scanner?”

“Yes, you should be good to go,” Pidge informed him. “You should be able to stay under the cloak while scanning.”

“Don’t attack yet, we don’t know what kind of ships they are, we just need a warning,” Shiro added.

“Yes, Sir,” Keith said before taking the controls once more. “Sorry Lance, looks like I’ll have to teach you another time.” Keith flicked a switch on the ceiling between them and the ship hummed. “Cloaking field up. We’re going in.”

Keith had much better control of the ship than Lance so the other teen mentally took notes. As they slowly moved away from the castle, Keith pulled up an entirely different screen. This one had a strange language that Lance couldn’t begin to comprehend.

“What’s that?” Lance asked.

“That is going to show us the results of the scan,” Keith replied before flicking that one in Lance’s direction. “You see that button at the lower left? When I tell you to, hit that. It’ll scan the ships and then give us the schematics. Then Pidge should be able to go through and highlight the best places to hit.”

“How long does that take?” Lance asked. It seemed like a lot of steps for just a couple of ships. “We don’t even know if these ships are the enemy.”

“You can never be too careful,” Keith explained as he eased the ship around the nearest planet. He nearly pulled back on the stick, but quickly reminded himself they were invisible. Still detectable by radar, but if they stayed still chances were they would be ignored. “Hit the button.”

Lance nodded and watched the scan go through the purple ships that were cruising past them. The ships were huge, one of them was bigger than the other two. That one was in the center, the other two ships were smaller, but still twice the size of the pod they were in.

“Are your ships that small?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded. “Our crafts, minus the castle, are built for speed and agility. Those two are built for fire power. The one in the center is probably a prison ship or a precious cargo ship. Pidge what’ve you got?”

“Looks like a cargo ship,” Pidge replied. “If we hit it we can weaken Zarkon’s empire.”

“Shiro?” Keith asked.

“We’re coming out to help you,” Shiro replied. “We’ll hit it together.”

Within the minute there were three pods zipping between shots of lasers. Keith fired before dropping the cloaking shield.

Lance was kind of glad for that. It meant the low hum of the cloak stopped and Lance could think freed of that annoyance.

“Hunk, on your left!” Keith shouted before barrel rolling around a beam of burning light. “Pidge! Can you give me spots to shoot?”

“Just a tick,” Pidge replied as her ship let out a few shots. “There!”

Lance’s attention was drawn back to the hologram where the certain parts of the schematics were highlighted.

“Thanks, Pidge,” Keith suddenly had a smile on his face. He was nearly flying at full power spinning through the sky. He shot back as quickly and swiftly as he could.

Lance was watching in complete awe. Keith’s flying was much smoother than Pidge’s. Of course, it helped that he was buckled up and not being thrown around. Two of the pods, Lance latter figured out it was Hunk and Pidge, were attacking the large ship. Shiro and Keith were fighting the two guard ships.

Lance watched Keith hit the ship in just the right spot. It looked like a small flash of light before the entire ship blew up. The blast was enough to shake the small pod Lance and Keith were flying in. The ship spiraled twice maybe three times before Keith was able to get it under control.

By the time they were flying straight again it was over. The large ship looked dead in space. They weren’t getting anywhere and neither were those supplies. Keith smiled proudly before Shiro’s voice came over the coms.

“Alright team,” Shiro even seemed a bit proud. “Head back to base. We’ll be at our next target in a few ticks.”

“Meet you back at the castle,” Keith replied, spinning his pod around.

“You do this all the time?” Lance asked. What was he getting himself into? He wasn’t supposed to go into the city for fear of getting tangled up with the bad kids. Now here he was sitting next to a kid who probably ran a gang in middle school.

“Is something wrong?” Keith asked. He didn’t even have to look over at Lance to know the teen was burning a hole into the back of his head.

“You…” Lance frowned. What was he going to say? That he thought Keith was a good pilot. He couldn’t do that. Things would be no different out here than on Earth. People were people and Lance was forced to bite the inside of his cheek. “You’re a horrible pilot.”

“Me?” Keith asked, eyes narrowing. “You can’t be serious! I just piloted us to safety! I took down a fighter!”

“Maybe, but I’m pretty sure Hunk and Pidge did more work than you,” Lance replied.

“You’re lucky Coran likes you,” Keith muttered. “Or I’d be letting you suffocate in the void of space.”

“Aw, you wouldn’t do that,” Lance gave Keith his best smile. “You know I’m the best looking one of us here.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Hunk interjected. “Allura is really pretty.”

“Best looking guy,” Lance corrected.

“In your dreams,” Keith muttered as he parked the pod a bit sharply.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Don’t be jealous. If you took care of yourself. Maybe cut that mess you call hair you could look just as good.”

“Mullets are cool,” Keith muttered, hopping out of the pod.

“Who lied to you?!” Lance exclaimed following the pilot. “C’mon, you have to realize that was in fashion at least ninety years ago, but that is so out today.”

“Fashion police coming through,” Pidge teased good-naturedly as Lance and Keith stepped into the living room.

Lance smiled at her as he bounced over to the couch. “I think it’s important. Pirates or not, you should still look nice. Speaking of looking nice, do you all have gear like Hunks?”

“You’re going to have to be a little more specific,” Shiro pointed out as he watched the four younger pilots collapse on the couch.

“He’s talking about the Paladin Armor,” Hunk replied. “I meant to tell him about it, but then I got distracted. Sorry about that, Lance. But yes, we all have armor like that. Allura said they used to belong to the Paladins of Voltron. It’s some kind of nursery rhyme or kid’s tale about a giant robot that protects the world. According to Allura, it used to be a real thing ten thousand years ago, but the lions that make up the giant robot were lost when Zarkon attacked her planet. Now this castle and the armor is left. We don’t even have all the bayards. Shiro’s was lost when this Voltron was supposedly stolen.” Hunk paused for a moment. “It sounds a lot more convincing when Allura talks about it.”

“So, this armor you have is ten thousand years old?” Lance asked, though he was more talking to himself. “And Allura knows about all of this?”

“Allura’s father was supposedly the one who built the lions,” Pidge added.

“How old is Allura?” Lance asked in a bit of shock.

“She can’t be much older than Shiro, but she and Coran were in a cryo-pod for ten thousand years,” Pidge explained. “With a couple of mice, so now Allura has this mind connection with them.” She shrugged. “Science is weird.”

“Hold up,” Lance said, throwing a hand in the air. “Hunk, did you say lions that make up a giant robot? So, like this robot has lions for hands?”

“Well, it’s more like the lions were the whole arm, ya know, from the shoulder to the hand,” Hunk explained.

“That doesn’t make sense!” Lance’s voice was unintentionally growing louder.

“It’s a bed time story,” Keith muttered. “Do you always read that far into fiction?”

“I’m sorry, but I made up those bed time stories for my siblings,” Lance replied. “At least all of mine made sense and had consistency.”

His smile dropped for half a second. He might never get to do that again. How was everyone holding up? There was no guarantee the government hadn’t tried to send his brothers and father into the service. What would they do with his mother and sisters? He doubted his mother would listen to them for long. She and authority didn’t always get along.

“Crew,” Allura’s voice came over the speakers. “We’re about to enter the atmosphere of the Balmera.”

“Alright, team!” Shiro went from his relaxed posture to a taller stance in seconds. “Go to the bridge, take your spots.”

Lance stood with everyone, but he didn’t really move from his spot. Was he considered part of their team? They’d only just picked him up yesterday. He didn’t really belong and he knew he didn’t have the open flow of comradery between him and the others. Except maybe Hunk.

To his surprise Keith was the one who stopped and looked back at him. “Are you coming?”


	5. The Balmera

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is more or less a rewrite of the return to Balmera episode. I apologize, but it's something I wanted to write rather than just having it being referred to.

Lance stood for a few more seconds in stunned silence. Had Keith invited him to join them? He was pretty sure Keith was the one most likely to stab him in the back. A little voice in the back of his head tried to point out that was ridiculous, but it was the way Keith looked at him.

He followed Keith a bit nervously. The slightly shorter boy kept glancing back at him with a dangerous look in his eye. That only solidified Lance’s ‘Keith was in a gang’ theory. Lance was only slightly surprised at the cleanliness and sheen of the bridge. Everything in this castle looked glossy. Like, if you touched it your hand would just slide off.

The more childish part of himself actually tried. His hand laid on the cold, metal chair that seemed to be part of the floor. He could feel the hum of the whole ship just through the small touch of his hand.

Keith walked to his rightful seat at the back of the bridge. Shiro was more toward the front on the platform behind Coran. Pidge and Hunk were already seated in their rightful spots, Pidge to the side and in front of Hunk. Keith was across the room and level with Hunk. He gestured at the spot behind him.

“You can sit there,” Keith explained. “Help me with offence if we need it.”

Lance nodded, sitting awkwardly in the seat. It was more comfortable than he had expected. The cushions were plush, but not soft enough to make you want to sleep. Once he sat a holographic screen came to life in front of him. This one was in English and he at least had a basic understanding of what he was looking at. He’d seen this in a few of the books his brother was reading, back when his brother had wanted to be put in the Garrison, the fighting school of Earth’s governemnt.

“So, you need a sharp shooter to cover you,” Lance said with a smile. “Well, you picked the perfect guy.”

Keith rolled his eyes, sending the back of Shiro’s head a ‘help me’ look. He let out a sigh before two controls appeared near his hands. He didn’t feel the need to grab them just yet. They were still in the process of entering the atmosphere so there wasn’t a need to send the small drone out.

“Cloak going up,” Pidge said from her seat. “It should hold for a while as long as no one starts shooting.”

As they sunk lower than the clouds it was easy to see the purple spires that sprouted from the ground on the dead looking planet. Coran’s horrified gasp was the only sound that could be heard for a long moment.

“So…what’s the purple metal stuff?” Lance asked.

“Looks like they’re using this planet as a mining colony,” Pidge replied, staring at her screen. “A Balmera is an ancient creature that produces crystals like the one above Allura’s head. A lot of ships run on them. Usually, these creatures have a symbiotic relationship with those taking the crystals. Someone takes a crystal and puts energy back into the planet. With something like this they’re just taking.”

“Balmera aren’t just planets,” Coran said sadly. “They’re living beings. This one is suffering. They’re supposed to shine more brightly than the night sky.”

Shiro glanced back at Allura. “Princess, if you’re alright here we can go in for a closer look.”

Allura was thoughtful for a moment. “I’d like Pidge to stay. If anything goes wrong it will be in her department. I’d like everyone else to check it out.”

“Alright. Everyone to the hanger. Lance stay here and offer tactical support,” Shiro commanded before disappearing with the others behind the sliding door.

Lance sat in his seat at a complete loss for what to do as the footsteps of running faded into the background. He still wasn’t used to the people he was with. They all had chemistry. He was an outsider.

“Lance,” Coran motioned for Lance to join him at the control station. “I’d like you to watch this.”

Lance nodded, joining the alien. From where he stood he could see everyone zipping away. He suspected Keith was in the fighter pod at the front, but he couldn’t be too sure. There wasn’t really a whole lot to see. The small little pods looked like birds beside the tall mining columns.

A few ships flew to meet them in the air, but that was barely a fire fight. Lance was pretty sure a single firework would have lasted longer. He was able to see one of their small pods spiraling toward the ground, smoking on its way to the ground.

“I’m hit!” Hunk’s picture showed up on the main window on the bridge. He looked panicked, but not completely terrified. It looked more like he was struggling with his ship. “I’m landing in one of these tunnels.”

“I’ll cover you,” Keith’s voice came across the coms, but his picture didn’t appear.

“Be careful, Hunk!” Pidge warned over the sounds of shooting. “I’m picking up life forms.”

“Please tell me they’re friendly,” Hunk muttered as his camera shook. There was a sharp cracking sound followed by a small. “Ow.”

“Are you okay?” Lance asked feeling the worry worm its way into his heart. He knew it was silly. Two days ago, he’d had no idea these people existed, now here he was worrying for their safety, but he considered it his brotherly instincts.

“Yeah, just my helmet,” Hunk replied. “I’m exiting the pod. I’ll see if I can get it airborne again.”

Keith, who was pulling off loops and spins as he tried to get in a clean shot, shook his head. “Be more careful next time!”

“Like you’re one to talk!” Lance snapped, “You’ve got a fighter advancing on your right!”

“Good call.” Once again Keith barrel rolled his small speeder before doing a complete loop, putting him behind the other ship. It only took one shot to get the attacking plane to fall toward the ground.

As the two ships shot at the purple ships and mining tech Lance found himself smiling. The columns were falling to the ground in a pile of smoke and metal. Whatever they were doing it was working.

“Hunk!” Pidge snapped everyone on the bridge out of their trance. “Life forms coming your way.”

Hunk looked around the dimly lit caverns. He could see two shadows moving closer. They almost looked like they were shambling. As he watched his fear slowly rose in his chest, sitting on his heart like a tight ball of rubber bands, ready to snap at any second. He raised his large bayard.

“D-don’t come any closer!” He hated how he stuttered, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now.

“Who are you?” One of the creatures asked. They looked odd, like people who had grown out of the rock itself. Their arms were longer than Hunk would have expected and they were taller as well.

“You’re not Galra,” Hunk was confused. “Coran, people live here?”

“Well, people is a relative term, but yes,” Coran replied. “The Balmerans. They’re peaceful.”

“Nor are you,” the female replied. She had earrings hanging from things that looked like short horns protruding from the sides of her head. “You fell from the sky?” She took a few more steps toward Hunk before her brother grabbed her arm.

“Shay, no,” Rax said pulling her away.

“Wait!” Hunk stopped both of them. “I could really use your help. My buddies and I are trying to free you, but I have to get back out there and I could really use one of those crystal thingies. Please, just a small one.”

Shay raised her head, interested once more in the strange man who had fallen from the sky. “Free us?”

“Yes,” Hunk nodded enthusiastically. “We’re going to weaken Zarkon, but to do that we-I need your help.”

“We will help,” Shay replied running up to him and grabbing his hand. “Come.” She and her brother led him through the caverns as the entire planet shook below them and rocks rained from the ceiling. It was at that moment Hunk remembered just how far underground they were.

Rax was clearly not pleased with development, but he didn’t put up a terrible amount of fight. At least until Hunk was introduced to Shay’s family. Then he seemed more than happy to complain and point out that Hunk was a danger to them.

It wasn’t like Hunk didn’t understand, but he needed their help. The faster they helped him and stopped making enemies out of friends the sooner he could be out of there.

“I don’t need anything strong,” Hunk explained as he was handed soup. “I just need something that I can rig up to work long enough to take out the equipment on the surface.”

 

Lance watched more fighter planes emerge from the purple base and he turned to Pidge. There was a half-formed plan making its way to the forefront of his mind. “I need you to take me down there.”

“What?” Pidge asked half because she hadn’t been listening but also because she wasn’t used to people demanding things from her.

“Look,” Lance said pointing. “That’s where the fighters are coming from. If we can get there and lock them in it’ll be easier to fight and we won’t have to worry about reinforcements. Shiro and Keith are fighting and Hunk’s down.”

Pidge looked toward Allura. When the princess nodded Pidge and Lance ran to the hanger. They hopped into a pod and were headed toward the surface with as much speed as Pidge could muster and almost completely invisible.

“Pidge?” Shiro asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Pidge replied. “Allura’s fine and the new kid had an idea.”

“Hey!” Lance pretended to be offended. “I’m at least two years older than you!”

Pidge gave a small shrug and Lance could hear Keith holding back a chuckle.

“Can you get me a clear path to the main hangar?” Pidge asked as she pulled up sharply to dodge a charging jet.

Lance was clinging to anything he could wishing these things came with an oh shit handle. Unfortunately, for him his hands were scrabbling against smooth metal.

“We’ll try,” Shiro replied as his ship spun around and faced the chasing ships head on. Once those two were taken care of he and Keith plunged toward the hanger.

Keith was rushing through as usual and Pidge couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she pulled into the hanger undetected. Her hands were sweating from the stress of pulling off something like that, but her adrenaline was through the roof. She wiped her hands on her armor as best she could before shoving a gun in Lance’s hands. “Don’t be an idiot and don’t get shot.”

With that she rolled out of the pod and Lance hung back, waiting until she had drawn their attention far enough away for him to scramble behind a purple jet. He was terrified as he moved away from the cover of their little pod. The sounds of battle surrounded him making it hard to think. He took a deep breath before running for cover under the jet beside him. He rolled under the ship just in time to avoid a laser aimed at his head. He heard it sizzle into the wall behind him and the blood rushed in his ears.

Lance placed his blaster in front of him. He could only see the legs of the guards passing by. He shot at who he could and when they fell to the ground he shot again. He didn’t allow himself to register whether he was aiming at real people or bots. Pidge could have been in danger and for all he knew she was. He rolled out on the other side of the jet he’d been hiding under and scanned the room looking for the child.

Pidge was hanging from the ceiling with one foot in the handle of her bayard as she poked and prodded at something in the wrist compartment of her armor. She smiled as alarms started ringing warning that the doors were closing.

“Pidge!” Lance shouted above her almost happy yelling as she very nearly turned into an acrobat and grabbed her bayard. “We gotta go!”

Pidge landed, stumbling into a run beside him and they both bolted for their pod. Pidge could see the bay doors and the small door to her pod was still closing when she took off. This time Lance had a bit of sense about him and pushed himself into a seat before they were too far off the ground.

He then once again sat in awe of the skill these pilots had. Pidge put the pod into full gear and nearly jolted his seat out of its spot. The more logical part of Lance’s brain told him that wouldn’t have actually happened, but it sure felt like it could have.

Lance watched in horrified silence as the bay doors grew closer and closer together. It really didn’t look like they were going to make it. They would be trapped here, captured, maybe even killed. He felt the icy hand of fear grip his chest, but just when he thought all hope was lost Pidge slipped through the doors at the last second.

He would have let out a sigh of relief, but one of the wings had just barely clipped the closing door and the pod was rocking unsteadily. Pidge was doing her best to gain control in the enclosed space and while it wasn’t in complete control when they broke into open air it wasn’t horrendous.

In the open air, Pidge was able to get enough control to spin her pod around and shoot at one of the mining columns that had managed to remain standing throughout the ordeal. She looked proud of herself and Lance wasn’t going to bring her down. She’d showed a great deal of skill in how she handled herself and the pod. It was a bit intimidating, but at least he knew what he was competing against. He’d just have to get that good and show them he could be a worthy member of their team.

Once the mining columns were taken down everyone landed their pods to regroup. Lance then learned a valuable lesson. It didn’t matter how short a battle was at the end of it your nerves would be frayed. Hunk was the last one to land his pod, but he couldn’t say he was sorry to have missed a good portion of that firefight.

“Hunk, you got it working again!” Lance was surprised.

“Yeah,” Hunk replied. “It just needed a little more power. I wasn’t able to do a lot, it’ll have to be completely repaired when we get to the castle, but it did what I needed. Oh!” Hunk made his way over to Shiro when their leader landed. “Shiro! I was talking to some of the Balmerans and I think we can use this for information gathering. It’s one of the few lasting Balmera in the area and once people find out we’ve freed it from Zarkon we can learn more about the resistance.”

Shiro thought for a moment. “What do you think Princess?”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Allura replied. “I’m landing the ship. I think it would be best if we all introduced ourselves to our newest allies.”

Hunk then ran into the nearest cavern and disappeared. Lance raised an eyebrow, but otherwise let it go.

“What’s up with Hunk?” Keith asked.

A gremlin-like smile appeared on Pidge’s face. “Hunk has a girlfriend!”

Keith rolled his eyes and Shiro shook his head, but Lance went to ruffle Pidge’s hair. He ended up rubbing her helmet, but he must have gotten his point across because Pidge smiled up at him.

Hunk then returned with Shay and her family. Hunk was gently holding Shay’s hand and that was when Pidge elbowed Lance’s side.

“Told ya,” Pidge muttered.

Lance gave a light laugh as the castle landed not too far from them, kicking up dust and blowing it in their direction. Lance was a bit bitter about not having a proper helmet because he was the only one coughing as the dust flew into his face.

Once their little pirate group had gathered Hunk introduced him to a female Balmeran. Lance had to admit Pidge had called that one. The way Hunk looked at Shay was pretty much the equivalent of the way those cheesy romance movies had the men look at the women. Like they were the only thing in the world their eyes could see.

Allura shook the rock-person’s hand. “I am Princess Allura from the planet Altea. Shay, it is an honor to meet you. It is an even bigger honor to know that we have more allies in the fight against Zarkon.”

“If anything happens, Princess, we will be sure to let you know,” Shay assured her.

Allura handed her a communication device. “If anything happens or you need anything this will allow you to get in contact with us. Please don’t hesitate to use it.”

Shay nodded, holding the small device in her large hands. Honestly, to Lance, it was almost comical the way the large rock creature looked at the cell phone-looking device. Shay held the communicator as though she thought it would break the moment she touched it.

“Thank you, Princess,” Shay said before moving toward Hunk. “And thank you, Hunk. You have saved us.” She wrapped him in a hug and he looked like he might cry from happiness.

“You don’t have to thank me,” He replied. “I was just doing what was right.”

Pidge on the other had rolled her eyes, taking her helmet off and looking at Lance. “Sure, he’ll do ‘what’s right’ when someone gives ‘the right thing’ a face. When it’s some stranger on the street he’d rather hang back and play it safe.”

Lance wondered if that was a sore spot or if Pidge was just making an observation. He still hadn’t completely figured her out. Sometimes he thought he knew what all of her tone changes meant, but then something would throw him off and he’d have to start all over again.

Hunk was easier, that man was more or less a teddy bear who would protect those he cared about with his life. Which made Pidge’s observation click. Hunk protected those he cared about with his life, but if someone tried to protect everyone like that it would be draining. They would have no energy to dedicate to what was important.

He was still trying to figure everyone else out. He almost had Coran pinned down and he was slowly figuring out Allura and Shiro. He was also starting to see that there might be something between the subtle touches they shared. He’d have to remember to tone down his flirting with Allura if that were the case. Shiro was not someone he wanted to mess with.

He, Pidge, and Keith stood to the side as they watched the proceedings. The tradeoff of the device didn’t take long, but the goodbye between Hunk and Shay took a bit longer than anyone would have expected. The two of them wandered off as Allura started talking to Shay’s grandmother about a possible change in the way the Balmera was run.

 

Shay was looking up at the sky. “I have never seen it before. I did not know it was so blue.”

Hunk smiled at her. She was happy and these people were free. It felt like they’d done a good day’s work. It made him feel that much better about what they were doing when things actually went according to plan.

“Maybe I can show you the rest of it one day,” Hunk offered. “I can show you where I’m from once this mess is fixed.”

“You would take me in your ship?” Shay asked. She was excited about the offer, but nervous as well. To be with one of the sky people would be dangerous.

“It would be when the universe is safer,” Hunk replied. “Zarkon’s empire is still strong. We have to free more planets and gain more allies before we can take him on, but we will and when we win the universe will be safer.”

Shay smiled at Hunks optimism. It was a nice change from Rax’s constant pessimism and she was sad Hunk would have to leave so soon.

“You will come back?” She asked hopefully.

“Whenever I can,” Hunk assured her. “But you have a video com now. So, you can always call. I’ll pick up when I can.”

 

Within a few more minutes they were back on their ship and Pidge was once again going through the possible planets that might have Galra still inhabiting them or sapping them of their resources. Lance watched her formula for a short while before getting bored.

He left the bridge and was making his way back to his room. He was slowly becoming more and more exhausted. By the time he made it to his room his feet were dragging.

Keith watched him go, as his room was a bit further down and he was thinking about heading to the training deck. He had originally thought about telling Lance he’d come up with a good idea.

Blocking in the fighter jets like that wasn’t a bad plan. He thought better of it though. Lance looked like he could use a good rest and he didn’t need Keith keeping him from that.


	6. Welcome to the Team

After that, all the days seemed to blur together. Lance would wake up, eat breakfast with the others and then train with Hunk on the training deck. After lunch, he would learn how to fly with Keith.

Occasionally, he saw Shiro talking to Allura and Coran or just passing in the hall. Sometimes their leader would watch him train, but Lance always seemed to mess up more when Shiro was there. He liked it better when it was just him and Hunk.

The only time he ever saw Pidge was during meals and that was only if Shiro or Hunk managed to drag her out of her lab. Lance wasn’t sure what she did in there all day, but it was obvious she rarely got any sleep. Maybe that’s why she was so short? Children grew more when they slept, or that’s what he had always been told. If Pidge never slept then that would explain a lot.

It took a while, Lance figured it was months, for him to be proficient enough to even stand his own against the training bot. As he got faster and lighter on his feet he realized why it had taken him so long to get the hang of it. Both he and Hunk had long range weapons. Which was just wrong. Who put two people with long ranged weapons against a bot that was clearly stronger than the both of them? What kind of twisted, heartless, Lance’s face twisted when he thought of Coran dropping a bot on the two of them. That’s who.

He wasn’t sure exactly how long he had been there when Shiro suggested all of them train together. It was at breakfast one day and Shiro announced they’d all be going to the training deck. He directed that statement more to Pidge than anyone else. She shrugged, but didn’t look entirely pleased with the idea.

Which was what led to Lance standing in a circle with the pirate crew. He was holding his blaster while everyone else was decked out in what Hunk had called the paladin armor and bayards. He felt out of place. Everyone else worked like a unit. He was the outsider and Lance wasn’t sure if that would ever change. Was that all he was meant to be? The one who didn’t belong.

Keith elbowed Lance’s side. “Focus. Or we won’t have anyone to watch our backs.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Lance hissed.

“I’ve heard that one before,” Keith muttered as the training bot dropped from the ceiling.

Lance panicked for a split second as Keith charged the bot. He’d never seen the bot move this fast. He was only on level one and this was not level one. Keith, on the other hand, looked completely at home rolling under the bot’s sword and out of range while Hunk and Lance provided covering fire.

Pidge was nowhere to be found and Shiro had his robot arm activated, helping Keith. Lance was having more trouble trying to predict where those two would be than actually hitting the bot. Keith rolled under Lance’s gun, sitting on his toes, sword in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked. Didn’t Keith know he could have been hit?

“Making you cover me,” Keith replied as though it were obvious.

“A simple ‘Cover me’ would have been enough,” Lance muttered getting a few shots in at the bot.

Keith muttered something Lance couldn’t quite catch over the sound of Hunk’s gun. Lance watched Keith slide between the bot’s legs just as Pidge came crashing down on its shoulders. She thrust her bayard into the small gap between the neck and shoulders before leaping away.

For a second the bot looked like it was dancing, limbs flailing everywhere while sparks flew. Then everything stopped and the bot crashed to the ground, a thin trail of smoke rising from the corners of the green arrow like projectile.

Pidge yanked the electric grappling hook back and smiled proudly. Hunk was also smiling as Keith inconspicuously handed over a silver coin. So, Pidge could take down the training dummy and he was now down ten GAK.

Lance was just staring in awe. They’d been on the training deck what? Maybe twenty minutes and the bot was on the ground. It took him hours to even get in a good shot by himself. He didn’t realize Shiro had walked up to him until the man spoke.

“Nice job, Lance,” the sound of Shiro’s voice so close startled Lance. Shiro took a small step back. Lance still had a weapon out and startling someone with a gun was not the best course of action.

“Sorry, Shiro,” Lance said quietly before deciding a change of subject would be a good thing. “That didn’t take long. I guess I was just surprised.”

“The training bot is meant to be fought as a team,” Shiro explained. “No one expected you to be able to advance to the next level on your own.”

Lance was taken back for a second. Okay so that was rude. If they knew he and Hunk would never had won against the bot on their own. Lance shook his head. Man, these people were heartless. “Then why?”

“You needed to improve,” Shiro explained. “And you have.” He motioned for Lance to follow him. “The others are waiting for us.”

It was then that Lance realized they were alone. He berated himself as he followed. He should have been paying attention. What if something had happened and he was the only one who could have done anything? He wouldn’t have known. Just like he hadn’t known when the police snatched his siblings.

Shiro led Lance to a part of the castle he had never seen before. The room they stopped in looked just as clean as the others, but there were five pods. Four of which were empty. The last one held armor that looked like Hunk’s, but it was blue.

Allura and Coran were standing beside it while the others were off to the side.

“Lance,” Allura spoke. “Coran, Shiro, and I have decided you’ve shown remarkable improvement and would like to welcome you to the team, officially. You have proven yourself worthy of this armor, should you choose to accept it.”

Lance looked around at the other pirates with a small smile on his face before turning to Allura. “Thank you. I’d be honored, Princess.”

For a long moment, no one moved. Then Shiro gently pushed Lance forward. “Try it on.”

Lance stepped up to the display case nervously, but before long he was suited up and smiling.

“You’re wearing the armor of the Blue Paladin.” Allura said as she handed him the blue bayard that matched and with a flash of light it turned into a blaster.

“The bayards tailor themselves to the one who holds them,” Allura explained. “I think you’ll find that has a better scope than the practice rifle you were using.”

Lance was so excited he was finding it difficult not to laugh. Here he was, holding a weapon that was specifically made for him. For the first time since Pidge pulled him into that ship he felt like he belonged.

“Thanks guys,” he replied when he found his voice. Everyone was smiling at him, well, everyone but Keith. What was that guys problem? Lance was beginning to wonder if Keith even knew how to smile.

That day was one Lance would remember, even years from now he knew he would remember the day he found a team. These were the people who would have his back through thick and thin. Even Keith…well, probably even Keith. There was just no telling with that guy,

“How do I deactivate it?” Lance asked, feeling a bit stupid.

“You just have to will it away,” Hunk explained. “It sounds weird, and it kind of is, but it works.”

Lance was doubtful, but he trusted Hunk. He had a kind soul and would never put Lance in a situation where either of them could embarrass themselves. At least Hunk wouldn’t do it on purpose. Not like Keith. To be fair, Lance had no way of knowing what Keith would or wouldn’t do, but he had a feeling Keith would put him specifically in a situation where Lance could and would make a fool of himself. Hunk wasn’t like that, so true to the cuddly-looking man’s words the blaster returned to its resting bayard shape.

Allura looked at him with pride, though it was a bit forced. “You now carry with you the spirit of the Blue Paladin.”

“Let me guess, I get to be the one everyone fauns over because I’m the best looking?” Lance asked, making finger guns for an added bonus. Everyone looked way to tense. He understood this was important to them, but they could loosen up a bit.

Allura rolled her eyes and behind him he heard Pidge groan and Keith scoff. Coran looked only mildly offended, while Shiro, well Shiro seemed to wear a constant expression that seemed to say something along the lines of ‘please kill me’ or ‘I’m done’.

Despite that, Lance was proud of himself. No one was a stuffy as before. Except maybe Keith, but he was thinking that in referring to everyone maybe he should just leave Keith out. Keith would always be the outlier.

Shiro extended his hand. “Welcome to the team, Lance.”

Lance was overcome with a sudden nervousness, but he shook Shiro’s hand and managed a wide smile. “Thank you.”

After that everyone slowly dispersed. Pidge probably disappeared into her lab. Honestly, Lance had never seen the place and with as much time as she spent there he was pretty sure he never wanted to. Hunk made his way to the kitchen and in no time a mouthwatering smell was drifting through the castle.

Lance wasn’t sure where Keith had gone, but he was pretty sure Allura, Coran, and Shiro were on the bridge. Lance didn’t want to look at the stars so he went to the lounge. When he entered Keith didn’t even glance up from the book he was reading.

“You sit over there,” Keith muttered. “Then we’ll be far away from each other. Very far away.”

Lance rolled his eyes and like the antagonist he was, sat right next to Keith. “Whatcha readin’?”

“What’s it mater to you?” Keith asked. “I’m pretty sure you can’t read.”

“Hey!” Lance snapped. “I’ll have you know I can read!”

“Comic books don’t count,” Keith muttered.

“What makes you think I like comic books?” Lance challenged.

“You’re an idiot who is disillusioned with reality and has unrealistic expectations about themselves and the world. You aren’t a hero, Lance. You’re a scared little kid who has no understanding of how the world truly is,” Keith growled, leaving quickly. He was done spending time in the presence of stupid. Lance just had to bother him while he was trying to relax.

Lance could fill himself filling with anger. Of course, he wasn’t the hero! Did Keith really think the only reason Lance was here was to prove himself a hero? He wanted to scream, to yell, but before he could Keith was gone.

He waited until the door had closed to pick up the book Keith had left. “ _Dictionary of Conspiracies and Secret Societies_.” He read to himself before looking back at the door. “And I’m the one who needs to get a grip on reality.”

For a moment Lance was at a loss for what to do with the book. He hadn’t seen any books in here before, so Keith had probably brought this from his room. That meant it had to go back to that room. Lance glared at the book, holding it tightly in his hands. He could feel anger bubbling inside him. He was done being treated like this. He’d show Keith.

He made his way back to his room, clutching Keith’s book to his chest. His face was heated from anger, but he couldn’t have cared less. Ever since he got here Keith had been nothing but rude. Everyone else had at least reached out to him. Even Allura…kind of, but at least she wasn’t rude!

Until now, Lance had tolerated it fairly well, but he was done. The door to Lance’s room slid open and Lance threw the thick book under his bed. Have fun now Keith! What are you going to do without your precious book?

Lance wasn’t the idiot Keith had pegged him for. Lance figured there would be more books. Most people didn’t just have one. So, he might not notice that his book was even missing. Now Lance had a goal. He could use Keith’s hate to his advantage. If Keith was willing to walk away and leave a book unprotected while he was angry, then it wouldn’t be Lance’s fault if it wasn’t there when Keith came back.


	7. Family Ties

Lance wasn’t really sure how much longer after that it had been. Long enough for them to free two more planets and Lance to be proficient enough in flying that he was allowed to fly on his own with close supervision from Keith. He wasn’t allowed to fly in battle yet and that was a bit disappointing.

By that time, he had a good-sized collection of Keith’s books. All of them hidden under his bed. Lance was beginning to wonder how many books Keith had. During their free time, he didn’t seem to be without one. Most of them, from what Lance could tell, were about aliens and cryptids. There was one that Lance had picked up that was an action/romance about two spies falling in love.

Lance was currently reading that one and, despite himself, he was finding it interesting. He didn’t like reading. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how, he just didn’t get invested in books. It was harder for him to picture what was going on. This one he liked though. It was about secret codes and having to think your way out of puzzles and situations. Things Lance knew he couldn’t do in real life.

While they were flying Keith never mentioned his missing books. Which meant either he had too many to count or he wasn’t paying attention. Lance was a bit dejected by the thought. He wanted Keith to notice those books were missing! Keith had to have noticed at least one of them, right? Maybe there was a way to make the other pirate see at least fifteen of his books were missing.

The thought came to him while they were raiding a Galra supply ship. Hunk, Shiro, and Coran were loading supplies onto one of the pods while Keith and Lance stood guard and Pidge tried to tap into the Galra air waves and radio chatter. Most of the drones on the supply ship had been taken down along with the actual Galra. Lance was genuinely glad he hadn’t run into any of them yet.

The drones were fine. He could kill them because they weren’t living things. They were robots, they didn’t have families and they couldn’t feel. Galra were different. Sure, they were bad, but Lance felt for the little people. He had a feeling some of the Galra might not be in it because they were bad, but because they were forced. Just like the way a lot of young men back home were forced into war and fighting even if they didn’t want to be.

Lance wasn’t sure what he’d do if he came face to face with an actual Galra. Part of him hoped that day would never come.

He shook his head and his eyes ended up falling to Keith. He was decked out in his armor just as Lance was, but he looked exhausted. Now that Lance thought about it, Keith had been dragging the entire fight. He wasn’t quite up to par with everyone else today. Not that it had showed terribly, but Keith had spent a few more minutes than usual crouched under Lance’s bayard.

It reminded Lance of the book. How the two spies were trying to go against the evil organization that set them both up and while they were “fighting” they would pass coded notes to each other. They would tell the other what their organization was doing or give meeting points or drop offs. Then the thoughts clicked. Lance could do something like that with Keith’s books.

He could leave notes in the books or under Keith’s door? He’d find a spot. He’d have to come up with a code though. Then he’d have to figure out a way to make sure Keith could actually decode what he was writing. Lance had a feeling that would be the most difficult part.

“Alright, Pidge,” Shiro said, tapping the girl on the shoulder. She had a laptop on her lap with cords coming from every direction. “Start packing up.”

Keith stood slowly from his slumped position and Lance made an executive decision.

“I’m driving!” Lance said excitedly as he ran to the pod he and Keith had flown in.

“Who told you that?” Keith asked a hint of betrayal in his tone.

“No one, but I’m not letting you kill me because you can barely keep your eyes open right now,” Lance replied. “I’m too pretty to die.”

Keith rolled his eyes but let Lance do what he wanted. Mostly because the loud-mouthed kid wasn’t wrong. Keith hadn’t slept well the past few nights, not that this was new. It just took its toll more today than usual. Lance could probably fly better right now considering the circumstances.

So, Keith sat compliantly in the passenger’s seat as Lance piloted them back to the castle. He didn’t mind handing over the controls anymore. Lance was capable and Keith didn’t want to admit he liked the way Lance’s face lit up when he flew. Lance was usually a radiant ball of sunshine, but that radiance doubled when he was flying.

“Not bad for an idiot, huh?” Lance asked proudly when he landed the ship. It had been so long since that argument that all of Lance’s hatred and anger had burnt out and his tone had taken on a teasing quality.

Keith for his part felt ashamed. He shouldn’t have said that and he knew it. Right after he left the room he regretted it, but there was no turning back. What he’d said had been put out there and he couldn’t just take it back.

“We can’t all be geniuses,” Keith replied with a slightly harsher, but still playful tone. “Someone has to flip the burgers at the Space Mall.”

“There’s a Space Mall?” Lance asked excitedly. “We have to go! I bet I can get Allura something sparkly.”

Keith rolled his eyes. Of everything Lance would take out of that sentence it was the fact that there was a space mall. Well, Lance was still a child at heart, so Keith wasn’t really sure why he had expected anything different.

“Shiro has dibs on Allura,” Hunk said coming up behind him in the hangar.

“Okay, but that doesn’t mean I can’t flirt a little on the side,” Lance replied. He then muttered something that Keith didn’t quite catch. He only managed to understand “It’s fun but…”

Keith shook his head and made his way back to his room. He looked at his book shelf and frowned. It was a clever design, built into the wall with two bars in front of each shelf held in place with a latch. That way if they hit a bit of turbulence or more the books wouldn’t fly everywhere. Unfortunately, that only worked if the shelves were full and the books completely upright.

He was missing so many now that none of his books could stand straight up. He could count the number of books he had left on one hand. There were three. Two of them were ones he didn’t particularly care for. The third was one he was afraid to take from the room because it was so fragile.

One of them was a small, children’s guide to mythical creatures. It had pictures and the places one could expect to find certain creatures. Obviously, it was wrong because creatures like that didn’t exist, they were probably stranded aliens or something.

The second book was a straightforward guide to plants. Nothing special about it, but it had every plant on Earth in it. He figured it might come in handy one day should they need to inconspicuously need to assassinate the world leader. It, however, wasn’t on the top of his to do read list.

The third one was a thin paper back about Mothman and Point Pleasant. He liked that one, but he’d read it so many times he knew it by heart. There was no point in reading it, but he kept it with him. It was one of the first books he remembered reading and he couldn’t bear to part with it. That one was not leaving the room until he found where his books were going.

He looked at his books once more before sighing. Looks like he was just going to have to hit the training deck until he had to drag himself to his room. That way he knew he’d get some sleep. It wasn’t ideal, but it was what he had to work with so he’d make do.

When Keith left his room, Lance was entering his. He looked lost in thought and barely even glared when Keith walked by. Either their Lance’s acceptance of Keith was growing or Lance hadn’t noticed him. Keith was willing to be on the latter.

As Lance’s door opened he glanced to where Keith’s form was disappearing. Lance was trying to process what Keith was doing. Keith was clearly tired so why was he leaving his room?

He knew he shouldn’t have cared. Keith could take care of himself, but something made him follow. The entire time he tried to convince himself this was a bad idea. Keith was probably just going to get something to eat, then they passed by the kitchen.

Lance shook his head. He was probably going to the lounge. He could relax there. It would be the first time someone fell asleep on the couches. Lance was pretty sure Shiro never made it back to his room after his random midnight walks to nowhere. Keith passed by the lounge as well.

There was only one other room down the hall and Lance shook his head. There was no way Keith was that stupid. Turns out Lance was wrong. Keith was dumb enough to train when he looked like he could collapse at any moment.

Lance sighed as he watched from the side of the training deck. Keith’s purple eyes were slightly glassy, but definitely filled with sleep. Keith had discarded his jacket across the room a little while ago.

It didn’t look like the swordsman was going to stop any time soon so Lance left. Keith would be alright and if he wasn’t well, it wasn’t Lance’s job to baby sit him. He ignored the little voice in his head that was telling him to turn around. It wanted him to tell Keith to sleep, but why should Lance care? It’s not like Keith would listen to him. Keith only saw him as a burden. So, Lance stalked back to his room to make his code.

He’d managed to find some paper scraps lying around and Hunk had also kindly donated a few sheets of paper. Lance never imagined how hard that would be to find. He sat as his desk and stared at the paper for a long time. There were complicated codes he could try, but none of them seemed ideal. He wanted something Keith would be able to crack, but also something that he would have to work to figure out.

There was no way Lance was giving him the entire code at once. Then the idea came to him. All he would have to do was switch up the letters of the alphabet. Make an A written on the not actually be a B so that a B would mean A. He smiled proudly. It was such a simple code, but he imagined it would take a bit of time to crack.

Then his smile dropped. Would Keith take the note to Pidge? If he did Lance was sure Pidge could crack it in seconds. He’d have to think of some way around that. Or not, he decided as he stood. Maybe Pidge could even help him.

He practically sprinted to Pidge’s work room before he realized what he was doing. The door swung open and he was actually surprised to find it picked up and neat. Pidge looked like the messy kind of person. Though, now that he thought about it, it would be dangerous for all of her equipment to be all over the place.

“Lance?” Pidge asked, sounding genuinely confused. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, so I might be thinkin’ about doin’ a thing and I need your help,” Lance explained. “I’m making a code. For…someone and since you’re our resident tech expert I figure he’ll come to you once he gets it. So, I need you to put it through your…uh…Turley machine?”

“Turing,” Pidge corrected. “But I’m listening. You’re sending love notes to Hunk? Or Keith?”

“What!” Lance shouted. “I’m not sending Love notes to anyone!”

“It is Keith!” Pidge said proudly. She’d have to remind Shiro he owed her 20 GAK now. “So, what do you need? Me to not tell him who they’re coming from?”

“I’d like you to not tell him they’re from me,” Lance repeated. “But I’d like you to not give him the code. At least not at first. If he hasn’t got it in a week or two then I guess you can share it. Please, just don’t tell him they’re from me.”

“Relax,” Pidge assured him. “I’m not going to tell him. I don’t open the closet door on people. It’s rude.”

Lance hadn’t expected something like that from Pidge. Maybe he should have. He looked at Pidge before sitting beside her on the floor.

“You know what it feels like then?” Lance asked. He could imagine an even smaller Pidge being teased, ridiculed and who knows what else by children. Kids could be a gift to the world or a terror upon it. It was all about how they were taught to think.

Pidge didn’t even pause in her typing when she answered. “I don’t. My family didn’t care and I got the chance to tell them when I felt like I was ready. My brother,” she paused for a moment. “He was the one who was most surprised. Not because I’m ace, but because he never expected me to tell anyone.”

“Ace, huh?” Lance asked. “Which suit did you pick? Clubs or Spades?”

Pidge was about to, with much frustration, explain that ace didn’t have anything to do with cards, but then she saw Lance’s smile and realized he was joking and her heart lifted enough to joke as well. “Spades. I’m not much for hitting people over the head.”

“Matches the bayard,” Lance teased. Then his voice grew more serious. “Thanks, Pidge. If you ever need anything let me know.”

“Thanks, Lance,” Pidge said quietly. “Hey, can I ask? Gay or…”

Lance smiled a bit sadly. “Confused, I guess. I’ve been told that before. The best one I’ve gotten was ‘leave it to a boy to be greedy’. Pan, though, since you asked nicely.”

“The other you just haven’t found the right person,” Pidge said with a dream-like tone.

“The only thing we’d need to make the club complete is a bisexual,” Lance teased.

Pidge shrugged, with a smile. “Coran probably qualifies. Never asked though.”

Lance nudged against Pidge’s shoulder. “Whatcah working on?”

“Going through Galra files. This is a list of the prisoners they’ve ever had,” she said pointing to a list on the left-hand side of the screen. “Over here is their picture,” that was on the right. “Then there in the top left is my brother. Matt. He and my dad were taken by the Galra at the same time Shiro was. They were working for Earth’s government at the time and I’m not sure what happened after that. Shiro doesn’t remember a whole lot from that time and when he does it’s hard on him so he doesn’t like to talk about it. I wish I had a picture of Dad so I could find him too, but I’m hoping if I find Matt then he’ll know where they took Dad.” Then she shrugged. “It’s a long shot, I know, but I needed something.”

“We all need something,” Lance said gently as he pulled Pidge into his side. “Just don’t spend so much time cooped up in here. Okay? I know you’re missing your family, but you have a family here too. They’re right outside those doors and they really care about you.”

Pidge smiled sadly as she nodded. “Thank you, Lance. They care about you too. You’re a part of this weird family, even if you don’t want to be.”

“Everyone but Keith,” Lance muttered causing Pidge to burst into a small fit of laughter. “What’s so funny?”

“Keith? You’re worried about Keith?” Pidge asked. “I wouldn’t. Keith’s the only reason you’re here. I know it sounds bad, but we were only on Earth to look into the government and the garrison. We weren’t supposed to intervein or be seen. Keith was the one who asked us to save you. Well, he didn’t so much as ask more like he jumped in a pod and shot at the police cruiser himself.” She gave him a look that said she knew something he didn’t. “Keith doesn’t hate you. Now go write letters to your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Lance snapped teasingly as he pushed Pidge away.

She waited until the door was closed to say: “Not yet.”


	8. A Code for the Wicked

Lance had been sitting at his desk for…well he couldn’t remember. This wasn’t working! Pidge had that boyfriend thing stuck in his head and now it wouldn’t get out. It wasn’t fair! He was blaming it on her, for now. All he had to do was write a note that said something about Keith getting his books back when he was nicer. Lance shook his head. He couldn’t say it like that though. If he did that Keith would be able to figure out who these notes were coming from.

Maybe he could write something cryptic? Like, ‘I know where your books are’ or ‘I know where what you seek is being held’. Lance nodded. He liked the last one. Maybe with some tweaking it would be perfect.

With that in mind he was writing the first letter. Then he translated the original letter to the code he had planned on using. Lance looked at his writing proudly. Everything looked like such a jumble of letters Lance wasn’t sure if he could even decode it without a key. Then he shrugged, well Keith was always bragging about how smart he was. This could be the ultimate test.

The letter read: I know you are seeking something important to you. If you wish to find what you have lost maybe you should consider changing your attitude.

Which then translated to: J lmpx zpv bqf tffljmh tpnfsgjmh jnopqsbms sp zpv. Je zpv xjtg sp ejmc xgbs zpv gbuf kpts nbzaf zpv tgpvkc dpmtjcfq dgbmhjmh zpvq bssjsvcf.

A few spaces down the paper Lance added a portion of the code. After all, it was only polite. Those four letters he gave were: J=I and Z=Y. It wasn’t enough to crack the code, but he was hoping it would give Keith at least something to keep him invested in the guessing game.

Lance then folded up the paper and looked at the stack of books under his bed. He wasn’t quite ready to give the spy one back yet. He hadn’t finished it. Instead, he reached for the first book he had taken from Keith.

Lance tucked the paper in the book so it could be seen. Lance thought it looked a lot like a bookmark. Now, the trick would be getting the book to the lounge without Keith seeing him. Good thing he had an actual jacket, not like the weird anime thing Keith wore. His was functional.

Lance tucked the book in his jacket under his arm and made his way to the lounge. He was glad he’d hidden the book because he saw Keith in the hall. He looked pretty exhausted so maybe Keith would actually get some sleep. Lance made a mental note to add get some sleep to the next letter.

As Lance passed by the swordsman he swore Keith was going to stop him. Somewhere in the back of his mind something was telling him Keith knew he had the books and all Hell was about to break loose. Instead Keith passed without even glancing at Lance and for one Lance counted it as a good thing. He placed the book on the couch and made his way to the kitchen.

Hunk was bustling around, whistling to himself and Lance hopped onto the counter.

“Hey, Lance,” Hunk greeted without looking up from whatever he was making. “What have you been up to?”

“I made that code I was telling you about,” Lance said as he took a small piece of what looked like fruit. “How long do you think it will take for him to crack it?”

Hunk shrugged. “I guess it depends on how difficult you made it. There are some codes you have to translate three, four times just to get the right words.”

Lance shook his head, “Nothing that complicated. Just switched letters around. It looks like a jumbled mess though. I mean I guess that’s the point.”

Hunk resisted the urge to smile as he listened. Lance was putting more thought into this than anything else at the moment. Part of him wondered why. Lance had tried to make it completely obvious he didn’t like Keith.

They bickered frequently, though now that they were getting used to each other it had a more teasing ring to it. Which, in retrospect, was actually kind of cute. That being said Hunk wasn’t going to tell Lance to stop. Keith needed the distraction and Hunk had a feeling Lance did too. Especially, if the way Lance was treating these letters was anything to go by.

Lance had made the right decision in seeking out Pidge. As soon as Keith found his book and the paper sticking out of it he went right to her.

Pidge took the note from him and pretended to look it over. She even took a picture of it and said she’d run it through her program. She wasn’t lying. Pidge was going to run it through her program to see what kind of code Lance had come up with, but she wasn’t going to share it with Keith.

“Keith, I couldn’t worry about it,” Pidge assured him. “I doubt it’s threatening and you got one of your books back, right? You’ve been looking for them for a while now so I say you were given two letters, so figure out what you can and go from there.”

“You don’t think it’s some kind of Galra code?” Keith asked.

“In your book? In English?” Pidge asked. “I’m going to say no and you should get some sleep. You look like death warmed over. Also, consider a shower.”

“You’re the last person who can talk about either of those things,” Keith grumbled playfully before leaving. He was still looking at the jumble of letters on the small slip of paper as he made his way back to his room.

He spent a few minutes switching letters around, but it didn’t help. There were too many he unknowns. Maybe one day he’d get it figured out, but today was not that day. Plus, his eyes weren’t focusing and that was making everything worse.

Keith gave up not long after and collapsed in bed. Surprisingly, he did manage to get a decent amount of sleep before Shiro woke him up for dinner.

“Shiro,” he said as they walked to the kitchen. “You wouldn’t happen to be good with codes, would you?”

“Is something wrong? Has there been a breach in security?” Shiro looked at Keith with a hint of worry.

“I doubt it,” Keith replied. “Pidge said there was nothing to worry about, but she won’t help me either.”

Shiro smiled. “So, someone’s pulling your leg and you want me to help you figure out who it is?”

Keith’s face scrunched. When he put it like that maybe Keith was putting too much thought into it. Was he making a big deal out of nothing? He wanted to know what the not sitting on his desk said. Was that such a problem?

“Sounds like fun,” Shiro said, giving Keith a half smile. It was the smile Keith remembered from when he and Shiro were growing up. Keith had been given to Earth’s government as a child and he’d looked up to Shiro as a role model and almost father figure. That smile was the one he would get when they were supposed to be going to their rooms, but Keith would suggest something else. That smile was the one that let Keith know Shiro would go along with whatever plan he was fancying at that particular moment.

“Thanks, Shiro,” Keith said just before they entered the dining room to see Lance jabbing at the air with his knife.

“Then he was all like: ‘The hunter becomes the hunted’ and-“ Lance changed subjects when Keith sat beside him. “Does your mullet look less greasy than usual?”

“I told him to take a shower,” Pidge replied. “You can thank me later.”

Lance smiled in her direction. “Thanks, Pidge. Have I told you you’re awesome?”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” came Pidge’s snarky reply.

Lance shrugged. He hadn’t been trying to flirt, but maybe he had used that tone. Lance made a mental not to work on that.

“My hair is fine,” Keith muttered as he started cutting up whatever meat Hunk had put in front of him.

“No mullet is ever fine,” Lance replied with the straightest face he could manage.

Keith flicked something that looked like mashed potatoes at Lance’s face. Following the wet smack of the goop hitting Lance in the face there was a stunned silence.

Lance wiped away the mush with a finger, flicking it back at Keith. He stared for another moment at what was left of the food clinging to his fingers. Then a mischievous smile slid across his features.

Keith barely had time to register Lance jumped out of his seat as he shouted: “Food Fight!” while flinging almost his entire plate at Keith.

“Oh, you’re on!” Keith snapped, leaping onto and the sprinting across the table.

Lance mentally cursed. He’d forgotten how fast Keith was. It didn’t help that Shiro had joined Keith’s side, but at least he had Hunk. Hunk was an even better shot than Shiro. Not only that, but Hunk made an awesome human shield!

By the end of it all four of them were sitting on the floor covered in mush. The only one who had remained clean throughout the ordeal was Pidge. She was also the only one who had managed to eat anything. She carefully made her way through the war zone of scattered food and out the door.

The four younger fighters were laughing and Lance and Keith were even leaning against each other. He was also laughing, not nearly as jovial as the younger ones, but it was a laugh. It made his heart soar to see them getting along.

Keith had probably felt threatened. Now that Lance had been here who knows how long, close to a year, the two were starting to find common ground. What would have been genuine fighting had now simmered down to playful banter and food fights (apparently). This was good for both of them.

Shiro felt a pang of bitter sweetness in his heart. Keith was learning to one day take over this team. It gave Shiro mixed feelings. He was proud of Keith, the boy was still so young and Shiro hoped Keith wouldn’t have to take over anytime soon, but if it was necessary. Should something happen Shiro could only hope that he had taught Keith well enough to lead and hear when others spoke.

He looked at the young man dressed in a red jacket beside him and a true smile returned to his face. Keith was laughing at something Lance had done and Lance looked like he was beaming with pride. Shiro nodded to himself. Keith would be okay.

“Alright,” Shiro said standing up. “Hunk and I are going to the showers. Since you and Lance made this mess you two get to clean the kitchen.”

Lance and Keith’s faces dropped while both of them uttered some version of unfairness.

“C’mon Shiro,” Lance almost pleaded. “I didn’t start it.”

“You’re the one who shouted food fight!” Keith snapped.

“Yeah, but you threw those weird mushy potato things at me!” Lance reminded him.

“No arguing,” Shiro said, pushing them apart. “You clean the dining room and neither of you leaves until it’s clean.”

“What?” Lance’s voice rose to a whining pitch. “Shiiiro.” He then pouted at the closed door when Hunk and Shiro left. “Well, I guess there’s no helping it.”

“Here’s how this is going to work,” Keith muttered. “You clean that side and I’ll clean this side.”

Lance tilted his head. “That’s not fair! Your side has less food on it!”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?” Keith challenged.

“No!” Lance snapped as he ran into the kitchen. The taller boy came out with a bucket and a rag. “I’ll clean my side faster and better than you can!”

“You’re on,” Keith’s voice was low, but he was proud of himself. He had a feeling he was starting to get Lance figured out. It was nearly impossible for Lance to resist a challenge. By the end of cleaning Keith had a feeling he wasn’t going to be using that method to control Lance. He also had a bad habit of being unable to resist challenges and that was what had led to him and Lance, out of breath at the end of the dining hall.

Their buckets were gross, but the room sparkled once more. When Hunk came back a whipped them up something quick he once again found himself racing with Lance. He wasn’t really sure what they were racing for, but he was pretty sure it had to do with who could eat the most the fastest.

 

Later that night, Keith was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling while Shiro sat at his desk looking at the note. When Keith let out a small groan Shiro almost laughed.

“Did you eat too fast?” He asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Did you figure out the code?” Keith snapped weakly.

“I’m not doing all of your dirty work,” Shiro replied, “but I’ll help so come over here. I’ll give you a few pointers.”

Keith forced himself to sit up and walk over to the other side of the room. On the desk Shiro had two pieces of paper. One of them was the letter, the other had the alphabet running along the side with the two letters they had been given across from their respective coded letter.

“So?” Keith asked.

Shiro pointed to the letter where he had plugged in the two letters they knew. “Look at this. What three letter words do you know that start with a Y and would be used frequently in a sentence?”

“I guess…you would be one?” Keith suggested. When Shiro nodded he felt a bit proud of himself.

“So then if these three words are you that would make all the V’s U’s and all of the P’s O’s,” Shiro pointed out writing that on his decoding sheet. He then went a rewrote the message again with the new letters.

“But what about this one?” Keith asked pointing to the last ‘you’ that had a random Q hanging off the end of it.

“The root word is ‘you’ right?” Shiro asked. “What letters can you put at the end of you to make another word? This code has punctuation, so it would be a letter that doesn’t require an apostrophe.”

Keith’s brow furrowed. He wasn’t used to thinking like this. This was the reason he had tried to hand this off to Pidge. “I don’t know.” He admitted after what seemed like minutes of thought.

“Think of it this way,” Shiro suggested. “How do you make you possessive?”

“Your?” Keith asked hopelessly.

Shiro gave him a comforting smile and nodded. “Yes. Which would make Q what letter?”

“R,” Keith replied a bit more confidently this time.

Once again Shiro went to rewriting the not, underlining the letters they knew. It still didn’t make much sense, but to Keith it looked like they were making progress.

“I wonder what S is,” Keith said. It was a letter that seemed to be used constantly and it was also in front of an O twice.

“It could be a D or T,” Shiro replied. “Those are the only letters other than S that would come before an O in a two-letter word.”

Keith was ready to scream, or at least pull his hair out. He was done and so confused, he hated codes. Sure, they made sense in life or death situations, but this was just ridiculous.

Shiro stood and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Get some rest. When you get another letter I’ll help you out again.”


	9. A Leader's Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is coming out a little later than I wanted. Between work and Fourth of July festivities I didn't have time, but it's here now so enjoy my sad effort at trying to include shallura. I'll get there one day.

As they freed planets they weakened Zarkon’s grip on the universe. It was something they all sorely needed. It gave not only those fighting hope, but also those they were fighting for.

They were on one such planet now. The people here weren’t very advanced, but they were small and adorable. Lance really liked them, all of them seemed very much like children and they liked hugs. It was also great because they threw them a party. There was strange dancing, but it was still fun.

The youngsters even put on a little play, if one could call it that, to show the five of them defeating the Galra ships. Lance thought they were endearing and it seemed that even Keith agreed. He’d seen one of the Arusians hug Keith and the normally standoffish pilot simply hugged him back. Lance honestly had expected to see the little creature flying.

Before he knew it, he was walking up to Keith. “You think we could knit them sweaters?”

“Aren’t sweaters hard to knit?” Keith asked. He wasn’t really surprised that Lance could knit. The newer pilot wasn’t really one for following gender norms. So, Keith was forced to draw upon his very limited knowledge of knitting to even attempt a conversation.

Lance was slightly startled. He had been prepared to defend himself for knitting. He had prepared a comeback, not an actual conversation. “At first yeah. But once you get used to it it’s not bad. They just take a little while, but these guys are so small I don’t think it would take that long.”

“How many sweaters have you knitted?” Keith asked. So, it was a poor conversation topic, but Lance was smiling, a real, genuine, soft smile. It wasn’t the bright one that he had when he was laughing, it was the longing one when he was remembering something sweet and dreamily.

“Not many,” Lance replied. “It took me a while to start so I only started getting to the point where I could make sweaters about a year before I,” His smile faltered as he tried to figure out how to continue while keeping the bad memories at bay. “I met you guys. I guess I made three or four?”

Keith couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lance. Keith had always been without a family and sometimes he was jealous of those who had one. Keith hadn’t really felt any type of family connection to anyone other than Shiro. He remembered what it was like to have one person pulled away from him. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have an entire family, especially one as big as Lance’s ripped away from him in one night.

Then Lance shrugged and the brighter, less real smile was back as he picked out the dessert table. “Sweet! They have candy!”

Keith rolled his eyes and looked for something else to do. A sugar high Lance was not something he wanted to deal with. He’d leave that to Hunk or Coran. They could call him when the kid dropped into a sugar coma.

Instead he went to stand beside Allura, who was speaking to the leader of the Arusians. He looked old and sounded it too, but he still had a small spark of child-like naivety. It was both angering and endearing. It was nice to see that despite what Zarkon had done people could still come out of it seeing the best in most.

A small Arusian child ran up to Keith. It stood a few paces away as though it were afraid to speak to him before tapping his leg.

Keith crouched to better speak to her and frowned when she placed a crown of flowers on his head.

“Please accept this gift for saving us,” she said quietly.

Keith looked up at the crown and then back down at the slightly worried child. He smiled at her before shaking her hand.

“Thank you,” he said and the smile stayed when she skipped off.

Lance watched the exchange from the dessert table, he elbowed Hunk in the ribs and pointed to Keith.

“That’s not fair!” Lance cried, a bit dramatically. “How come Keith gets a flower crown? He won’t even appreciate it! Watch we’ll get back to the castle and he’ll throw it out.” As Lance watched Keith take the crown off his head and stroke the petals gently his anger ebbed. “He’s kind a cute though. I guess it suits him. Though, the little blue flowers would have looked better in his hair instead of the white ones.”

Hunk snickered, shaking his head. “Lance, some days I can’t tell if you’re jealous or in love.”

“I-I’m not in love!” Lance snapped, cheeks heating up. “Especially not with Keith! I’m just saying, I know enough about fashion and colors to say that blue would clearly look better in his hair.”

Hunk nodded, but he clearly didn’t believe a word of what Lance was saying.

Lance took a handful of candy before leaving in a huff. It wasn’t fair. First Pidge was bothering him about it, now Hunk. It was nice to see that they didn’t care though. That was a pleasant change and one thing he wouldn’t miss from Earth. It seemed in space no one cared who you loved as long as you weren’t a compete ass.

He looked to Keith, maybe it was time to send him another book? Keith had been careful about not leaving his books. Lance was beginning to wonder how many he actually had left. It couldn’t be that many.

When they got back to the ship it was later than they expected, but Keith still went to the training deck while everyone else hit the showers. Lance didn’t mind showering with the others, he was used to having little privacy at home with his brothers. He figured the others had gotten used to it by now considering they’d been doing this longer than he had.

By the time Lance made it back to his room he could feel the effect of the candy leaving him. Despite that he sat at his desk and wrote yet another letter to Keith.

This one read: _I’m guessing you haven’t figured out the code yet so I can write this and it will be at least a few more days until you crack it. The flower crown you got. The way you looked at it like it meant something to you was precious._ He then wrote a few more letters into the code: V=U and T=S.

Lance looked at it and felt the heat rising to his face. He sounded like a love-struck child. He took a deep breath.

“Okay, Lance,” he said to his empty room. “You wrote from the heart. What does that mean? How do you really feel about Keith? He’s always trying to one up me, but I’ve always egged him on so I guess that’s fair. Plus, he’s only ever been mean that once, right? We were all stressed that day and he hasn’t been mean since. Then there’s the way he looked at the flower crown today. He just looked so cute!” He sighed. “So, that’s the next step then. Is this a crush or something more?”

Lance changed his not over to code and slipped it into another book. He was a bit disappointed that he hadn’t had time to read much more in the spy book. He was so close to the end, but he hadn’t had time to sit down and finish it. Hopefully, soon.

 

After training the next morning Keith found another of his books sitting just outside with a slip of paper sticking out. He made sure to make eye contact with Shiro and motion to his room.

Shiro almost smiled, but it was still too early for that. Even so, he didn’t think he’d ever seen Keith that excited. It was actually adorable. The two of them ate breakfast and it was a quiet one. Lance looked like he hadn’t slept, despite being put together. Shiro dismissed it as nothing for the moment. Everyone had days where they couldn’t sleep, but if this became a normal occurrence he’d have to figure something out.

Keith wasn’t usually talkative if Lance wasn’t egging him on so no surprise that he was quiet, though the red pilot was filled with an eagerness that Shiro could almost feel. Hunk and Coran seemed to be the only chipper ones this morning because Pidge had nearly fallen asleep in her food goo and Allura hadn’t shown up for more than a second. Shiro made a mental note to check on her after he helped Keith with his secret pen pal.

Once again Shiro was sitting at Keith’s desk with Keith watching.

“So, we know we were on the right track then with you,” Keith said more to himself, but Shiro nodded anyway.

The two of them started by first adding the new letter to the partially decoded first note. It didn’t help them figure out what any of the other coded letters were, but maybe if the second note was plugged in it would help so they set about fixing that one right after.

Keith looked over what they had decoded and he could only make sense of one other letter. He pointed to the B sitting by itself.

“That one has to be an A, right?” He asked. “There’s nothing other than I that can stand alone in a sentence and we already have the I.”

Shiro smiled at Keith proudly. “You’re getting the hang of this.”

“I was,” Keith muttered. Now that he was looking at the note again it looked like a mess of letters once more. Nothing stood out and none of it made any sense.

“Patience yields focus,” Shiro said gently. “That looks like that’s all you’re getting out of this one, but give it some time. You’ll get this figured out.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but agreed. He just needed to wait for a few more letters, then he and Shiro would have this figured out.

“Thanks, Shiro,” Keith said as Shiro made it to the door.

“Don’t mention it,” Shiro replied. He then went to check the other tick on his list. He knocked gently on the princess’s door. Hers wasn’t like the rest of theirs, like if you stood in front of the sensor long enough they would open as long as the occupant hadn’t locked the door.

“Princess?” He called gently when he thought he heard sniffling. “Are you alright?”

The door slid open and a rather pale looking Allura stood, trying to pull herself to her full height. Clearly, she wasn’t feeling well. Shiro stepped in without waiting for an invitation and steadied her.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” he said gently as he helped her lay down. “You need rest.”

“Someone needs to pilot the castle,” She protested, albeit weakly.

“Coran can handle it for a bit,” Shiro assured her. “Do you need me to get you anything? Could I take you to a healing pod?”

Allura shook her head. “A healing pod won’t do much. This just needs to run its course. I think you would call it a…” her thoughts left her for a moment and she just felt cold and fuzzy. “a…flew?”

Shiro nodded and stroked her hair gently. “Sounds like the right word. Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

“More blankets?” She asked tiredly as a shiver ran down her form.

Shiro gently patted her shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

As he left the room he wasn’t entirely sure where to get more blankets other than the extras set in his room. Hopefully, Allura wouldn’t mind. He pulled out what looked to be the two thickest blankets and carried them to the princess’s room where he nearly ran into Coran.

“Shiro? Can I help you?” Coran asked side stepping so he could see the pilot a bit better.

“Allura said she was cold,” Shiro replied as he slid into the princess’s room. Coran watched from afar as Shiro and a very tired Allura spoke in quiet tones. He couldn’t hear what Allura said, but a light blush dusted Shiro’s cheeks as he tucked her in.

“Get some sleep, Princess,” Shiro’s voice was gentle and it was no surprise everyone had been willing to listen to him when they first met.

Shiro knew how to command a team, but he also knew when the opposite was needed. He could give them courage, but also be there to care for them. If the paladins were around, if Allura could actually get a location on even one of the lions then maybe things could be different. As they were, Shiro would have made a good Black Paladin. Allura had picked the proper color for him.


	10. The Invisible Maze

Lance stood in the middle of the training deck almost afraid to move. He was wearing his helmet while Keith was in the lookout post with Coran.

“Now this is the invisible maze,” Coran was saying. “You can’t see the maze, but your teammate can so they will guide you through. You have to put the upmost trust in your teammate not only here, but also in battle. Also, if you run into the walls you’ll get a slight shock.”

“So, who’s guiding me?” Lance asked.

“Take one step forward and then turn right,” Keith’s voice came over the intercom.

“Coran!” Lance nearly whined, though he was moving. He went to turn right like Keith had told him, but he was hit with a shock that ran along his whole body. It hurt like…like something he couldn’t even describe. “You said slight shock! That was not a slight shock!”

Keith, for his part, really had been trying to get Lance out of the maze. This was one of those exercises that even the rest of them hadn’t figured out yet. It didn’t matter where Keith told Lance to go, the other would just keep running into walls. This was the training that made everyone hate each other for a full week last time. He wasn’t sure why Coran had picked now as a time to go through this pain. He and Lance he just started getting along.

“I thought you were supposed to be leading me out!” Lance shouted, pulling Keith away from his thoughts. “You’re doing a great job of that! In case you hadn’t noticed!”

“Lance, calm down,” Keith tried to sound gentle, but it came out more annoyed than he’d intended.

“You’re telling me to calm down!” Lance snapped. “You’re the one who just ran me into a wall of electricity!”

“I didn’t-“

“Yes, you did!” Lance snapped, interrupting Keith’s entire sentence. “Or did you not hear me shouting from your safe, cozy little spot up there with Coran?”

“That’s not what’s happening,” Keith muttered looking around the room helplessly. There was no one here that would be willing to lend a hand. Coran was more inclined to let them work this out on their own.

“Then tell me what is,” Lance demanded.

“The maze in front of me is telling me you need to go forward on step and then turn right,” Keith explained.

“Why should I believe you?!” Lance snapped. “You haven’t liked me from day one. You’re just trying to give me enough brain damage so you can send me back to Earth and they won’t want me either!”

Keith watched as Lance stalked away, leaving a wide arch between him and where he thought the edge of the maze was before slipping through the door. Keith sat there in silence processing just how hurt Lance had sounded. Usually, Keith would chalk most of Lance’s outbursts up to him being overdramatic which was Lance’s specialty. This time it was different.

There was something about the tone Lance had used. Like he wanted someone to agree, but if he had been told he was right Keith was pretty sure Lance would have deflated.

“He knows we wouldn’t do that,” Keith said, though it sounded more like a question.

To make matters worse Coran didn’t reply. Keith’s face twisted, but he composed himself quickly and walked to the bridge.

He wasn’t expecting the bridge to be empty, but he wasn’t exactly expecting it to be a team meeting either.

“What’s all this?” Keith asked.

“An intervention,” Pidge chimed which seemed to que Lance sliding toward him.

“Keith, we need to talk about your mullet,” Lance started in completely joking tone, which confused the heck out Keith. “It’s not proper for a young man to have such a nasty cut of hair!”

Shiro watched for a few minutes in amusement before interrupting. “We were discussing what we’re going to do when we get to the next planet.”

“Yes, Coran and I have decided now that we have someone who care wear the armor of the Blue Paladin we should take a trip to Bluve. It’s a planet that was once a training ground for the original paladins, but we also used it for something else,” Allura explained.

“There’s a special type of water that helps with the stasis of the healing pods. We’re nearly out so we need Lance to go down there and get some for us,” Coran added from behind keith.

“No problem,” Lance said with a smile and some finger guns.

“Why does it have to be the blue armor?” Keith asked.

“Each armor is tailored to a specific thing,” Pidge explained. “Yours is better at withstanding heat while Hunks is strong and harder to punch through. Mine is thinner and more agile, but also more technologically advanced that any of yours. Shiro’s is also a bit thicker than yours or Lance’s. More importantly here, Lance’s suit can withstand the extremely low temperatures of the planet. His is also going to help us in trying to navigate out of the blizzards that Allura was telling us are nearly constant.”

“Even if his armor is resistant to the cold, that doesn’t mean it will hold it out forever,” Allura reminded them. “You should have about two hours to find the water. It’s hidden away in a cave system. I will land us as close to the cave as I can.”

“Pidge will monitor your vitals form here,” Shiro added. “If something goes wrong she’ll be the first to know and we’ll plan an extraction from there.”

Lance nodded before smiling brightly. “Don’t worry.” Then he gave Allura that half grin. “I could never stay away from my angel.”

“We have a few hours before we set down,” Allura said. “I recommend preparing yourself.”

Which was what led to Lance sitting at his desk writing yet another note to Keith. He was tapping a pencil against the paper more than he was actually writing. What else could he say? He could always say his stupid mullet need to go, but he could give away who he was, not yet. Part of Lance was having too much fun and hoped Keith would write back once he cracked the code.

He shook his head. He still hadn’t had time to deliberate on how he felt about Keith, but he didn’t have time for that now. All he had to do was write the stupid note and give Keith back another book. Then he got it.

_Keith, I wanted to tell you I enjoy reading your books. Not the cryptid ones. Those are weird, but they suit you. I like the spy one, but I guess you don’t have many novels. Back on Earth we had a room full of books and I would sneak downstairs when I was supposed to be sleeping. I hadn’t realized I missed that so much. Thank you for giving me a little piece of home, even if it was unwillingly._

He added the next two letters: S=T and K=L. With those letters Keith should be able to figure out the code. Or at least if he was as smart as he claimed now they’d find out. He tucked the paper in a corner of another book and placed it in front of Keith’s door.

They’d be landing soon and he would be out in the cold snow. He sighed, shoulders sagging, but he had to do this. He had to prove he wasn’t expendable.

Lance met the others on the bridge, well, everyone but Keith. Keith showed up a few seconds later with a book, fiddling with the small paper poking out the top. There was an expression on Keith’s face that Lance had never seen before. He wished he could look at it just a few seconds longer, but they were entering the atmosphere and Keith’s back was to him.

Before he knew it, Lance was standing on the precipice. He would have to walk off the ship into the swirling land of white and hope he could find his way back.

“Vitals are online,” Pidge said through the com link.

“Lance, are you ready?” Shiro asked.

“If you keep asking I’m going to get cold feet,” Lance replied before letting out a small chuckle. There were various groans from the team as he stepped into the snow.

Once he was far enough from the castle he could feel the wind battering him from every direction. That alone was making it difficult to walk without having to take into account the knee-high snow and the loose snow that plinked off his helmet.

He watched the little upside-down triangle in his visor spin over the place he was headed. He just had to keep walking. He’d make it there eventually. After what seemed like forever Lance couldn’t take it anymore.

“Am I even moving?” He asked. “It doesn’t feel like I’m even getting close to this cave thing.”

“You’ll get there,” Hunk assured him.

Lance huffed but continued on. Sure, Hunk could say that. He wasn’t the one tromping around in who knows how cold winds and snow that was waiting to bury him alive. Hunk was tucked away, nice and warm in the castle.

 

On the bridge of the ship Keith had decided he was going to try to work through the code on his own. Shiro was talking to Allura, who was getting some color back after having been forced to stay in her room.

Pidge was staring intently at the screen running through some programs while Lance’s vitals pinged in the corner.

He was adding the next two letters when he looked again and actually saw what he was looking at. The code read T=S and S=T so did that mean the other letters were flopped as well? He filled in the rest of the code with the letters he currently had and the code started to reveal itself.

Keith was pleased with himself that he’d managed to put that much together without Shiro’s help. It was nice to seek guidance from others, but when you learned from that guidance the experience was even better.

With the code figured out he set about decoding the letters and he rolled his eyes at the first one. So, the person stealing his books was mad at him for some reason and was passive aggressively trying to get back at him. When he decoded the second letter he had to stop himself from blushing.

Between the first and the second letter it had been a while. Keith remembered that day, saving the Arusians. It had been Lance’s first flight into battle and he’d done exceptionally well.

Keith could still remember when Lance had three fighters on his tail and he did a full loop to fall in line behind them. Amongst the fear and adrenaline Keith had felt some pride. Lance had a long way to go, but he had learned that trick from Keith without Keith actually having to teach it. Maybe, Lance wasn’t quite as stupid as he seemed.

“Lance?” Pidge asked, causing everyone to look in her direction. “How close are you?”

“Uh…A few more kilometers, why?” Lance asked.

“How are you feeling?” Pidge asked.

“A little cold, but nothing concerning,” Lance replied. “Is something wrong?”

“Your temperature started dropping,” Pidge explained. “You should be alright if you’re almost there.”

“I’d be there by now if this snow wasn’t so high!” Lance complained. For a while after the com was silent and Keith had gone back to decoding the letter he’d received today. This one was a bit longer than the others, but he felt like he was getting the hang of the code. Once he started reading this one he smiled.

It was nice to hears stories form someone. Even if he didn’t know who they were, though a little voice in the back of his head was forming an idea. This person was growing more comfortable with him and the story was a nice touch so was the thank you at the end. Keith made up his mind. He’d write to whoever this was and leave one of his books in the lounge so this person could find it.

_The spy book is one Shiro gave me while we were studying at the Garrison, the Earth boot camp or prison. I guess it depends on how you look at it. I guess he thought I was spending too much time reading factual things and I needed to fill my head with fiction. I do have to say, fiction can’t come up with half of this stuff, but it’s a nice escape._

Keith looked down at the jumbled letters that became his handiwork. Hopefully, whomever was leaving him these notes wouldn’t be scared off by him writing back.

“Okay, I found the water, I’m on my way back,” Lance’s voice sounded through the com on Pidge’s computer.

“You don’t have much time, so don’t be an idiot,” Pidge said, glaring at the vitals on her screen.

Keith could see the heartrate and breathing as well as the temperature. One of those was dropping. It wasn’t steady enough for anyone to be concerned right away, but it was concerning. If it continued to drop, which it would until Lance was in the castle once more, he might not make it back.

There was a shout and then a bang from Lance’s end and then some hissing.

“Lance?” Hunk’s worried voice rang out before Keith could say a word. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Buddy,” Lance replied shakily. “Just slipped on some ice. Think there’s a problem with my helmet though. I can’t see the location of the ship.”

“We’ll think of something,” Shiro said. “For now, get yourself to the exit.”

“Can do!” Lance replied, chipper once more. Of course, they would think of something, they were his team. They wouldn’t let him down.

Those on the bridge shared a worried look. If Lance couldn’t see where the ship was then he couldn’t get back. Pidge’s screen flashed red for a moment and her frown deepened. “Great. Our window for extraction just shortened. There’s an even stronger wind moving in. These blizzard-like conditions are only going to get worse. If we don’t get Lance before this one hits we might not even be able to fly the castle out.”

Hunk had his hands clutched to his chest, clearly panicking, but no one had any ideas.

“Guys, I’m at the entrance,” Lance’s voice came through. “What’s the plan?”

“Pidge can you rig up some kind of scanner?” Keith asked. “That way we’d have a clear picture of the obstacles in Lance’s path.”

“I can try,” Pidge replied. “I’m not guaranteeing accuracy. The snow is going to make it difficult and it’s not going to help Lance all that much. We’ll be the only ones able to see the maze.” As soon as she said the words Keith’s plan clicked and Shiro took over.

“Alright, Pidge you focus on getting us the cleanest scan you can,” he said stepping up to the computer. “Hunk, see if there’s a way you can account for the snow. Keith, you’ll be leading Lance through. Coran and I will ready a healing pod.”

“I wouldn’t advise a healing pod,” Coran said. “He needs to be warmed up, healing pods do the exact opposite. They cool you to put you in stasis and then warm you. It might be bad if we did that. But we can prepare a small room.”

“Pidge keep me updated,” Shiro said before following Coran off the bridge.

“Lance,” Keith said, leaning over Pidge’s chair. “Pidge and Hunk are going to give me your location and I’m going to lead you back to the castle.”

“Like the maze?” Lance asked, his sinking heart could be heard in his voice. “Well, at least there’s no electricity. Where do I have to go?”

“For now, continue straight,” Keith replied. “Keep a hand out or something. We don’t know exactly where you’re heading so you might run into a tree.”

“In Lance’s case, it might give him a few brain cells,” Pidge muttered.

“Hey!” Lance’s offended voice echoed off the walls.

“Lance, adjust your course about 15 degrees,” Keith was still leaning his arms on Pidge’s head rest. He could see in one corner almost as soon as Lance was battered by the wind. His body temperature was dropping more quickly now. On the other side of the screen was a countdown to when the larger storm hit.

They went on, Keith having Lance adjust when the course was off and then watching as Lance’s body temperature and the timer dropped. Keith pushed the fear out of his thoughts. If he let it consume him now he’d be useless. He didn’t even realize he was fearful until the little dot on Pidge’s screen that represented Lance stopped moving.

“Lance?” Keith tried not to let worry show in his voice, but it didn’t work. “Lance, what’s wrong?”

For a while they didn’t hear anything other than Lance’s labored breathing. “It’s cold.”

“Lance, you’re not that far from the castle,” Keith assured him. “I need you to keep walking.”

“Yeah, sure,” Lance muttered, he sounded tired, but the little dot moved. At least Lance was moving again.

“Lance, can you talk to me?” Keith asked. The last thing he needed was Lance falling asleep on him.

“Why would you want to talk to me?” Lance asked. Any other time those words would have been riling, but now Lance just sounded tired and sad.

Pidge looked back at Keith with a look at said ‘Now you’ve done it’. Keith shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to have this conversation.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Keith muttered. “Lance, you’ve stopped walking again.”

“It’s hot,” Lance muttered. “I’m just gonna take off my—“

“Lance,” Keith growled through the mic. “No. You’re almost here. Just a little further and you’ll be safe. You won’t have to worry about it.”

Allura looked genuinely confused. “If he’s hot what’s the problem with him taking something off?”

“When humans start freezing to death they feel hot and feverish, which is what’s happening now,” Pidge explained. “This is his body temperature and it’s clearly much lower than it should be. He’s not hot, he’s…” Pidge didn’t want to say what she was thinking, but they all caught the hint.

“Keith?” Lance asked, he sounded pathetic.

“I’m here,” Keith replied. It was a tone Pidge had only ever heard one other time, when they were rescuing prisoners from a ship and one of them was on the verge of dying. “Lance, I need you to take a few more steps. Can you do that?”

“I-I think so,” Lance’s voice was soft, barely existent.

Keith saw Hunk send worrying glances to them. He saw Lance’s dot stop moving once more, but this time there was the added sound of a dull, almost soft, thud.

“Lance!” Keith shouted into the mic. Lance wasn’t responding, but he was close enough to the castle that they could run out there and get him. Keith didn’t have time to issue orders, he’d do it himself.

“Keith, what are you doing?” Pidge asked just before he ran off.

“Getting my armor,” Keith replied. “Someone has to get Lance.”

Pidge was about to yell at him, but he was gone so she waited until a small blip in the lower corner of her screen told her his suit was online.

“You’re an idiot!” She snapped. “Your suit is made to keep you cool! In case I have to point this out to you, that’s the exact opposite of what Lance’s suit does! You won’t last nearly as long as Lance did.”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t have to,” Keith replied as he stepped into the cold. The regret hit him as soon as the sharp wind cut through his suit. It was so cold, he didn’t know how Lance could stand it.

He glanced around, he couldn’t see Lance anywhere. “Pidge, can you put the tracker on my helmet?”

“Sure, but if both of you die out there I am not explaining it to Shiro,” Pidge muttered as a small triangle flicked to life on Keith’s lens.

With that he was easily able to pinpoint Lance’s location. He had to push away snow to find the other fighter’s face, but once he found it Keith tapped on the visor.

“Lance? Lance, wake up!” Keith snapped, worry making him louder than he meant. He picked Lance up, carrying the other bridal style.

“Don’t tap the glass.” Lance groaned as he was lifted.

Keith rolled his eyes. He stood, but he knew it was going to be a longer walk back the castle than he wanted. “Can you walk?”

“Don’t think so,” Lance replied quietly, doing his best to snuggle into Keith’s chest. The helmet got in the way, but the intent was there.

“Lance, don’t fall asleep on me,” Keith was trying to keep his voice gentle.

“I’m tired,” Lance mumbled.

“Don’t care,” Keith replied sternly.

“You’re stronger than I thought,” Lance mumbled. “You look like a bean pole.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. Well, at least he wasn’t falling sleep. “A bean pole? Have looked in the mirror lately?”

Lance scoffed, “You’re jealous.”

Keith rolled his eyes once more as he made his way into the castle. He was immediately greeted with warm air and he sighed happily. He laid Lance on the ground. Taking his armor off before moving to Lance.

Now that he was free he felt like he could move faster and more nimbly. “Lance, I need to get your armor off, can you help me here?”

“You didn’t even buy me dinner,” Lance mumbled.

“Lance! I swear to whatever god is out there, I will let you freeze to death if you don’t stop,” Keith growled.

Lance gave Keith a small smile, but complied as well as he could. His limbs felt so heavy and it was hard to move as quickly as Keith wanted him to. Once his armor was strewn across the hangar floor he leaned his head against Keith’s chest. Keith was so warm and he couldn’t even bring himself to care that it was Keith he was leaning against.

“Keith! Lance!” Shiro’s voice echoed off the wall as he and Coran came running into the hangar and Keith was thankful Lance was in his arms. That meant he’d get a lecture later.

“We need to get him warmed up,” Keith explained, standing with Lance cradled in his arms. “Where’s the room?”

“This way,” Shiro replied.

“Guys!” Pidge’s voice came over the loud speaker. “Were getting ready for takeoff so you’d better hurry and strap yourselves in!”

Coran ran toward the bridge as Keith and Shiro made their way to Lance’s room. The way everyone had talked he’d figured they had set up a different room, but it made more sense that they would warm up Lance’s room and grab him extra blankets.

“You remember this from training?” Shiro asked as Keith put Lance into his bed and tucked him in.

Keith nodded in response. Of course, he did. They’d have to raise Lance’s body temperature slowly. Too fast and his body would go into shock.

Shiro pointed to Lance’s desk. “The thermometer is there, I should go check on Allura and the others.”

Keith nodded in understanding as the ship shook. They were taking off now, but Shiro didn’t seem to be bothered. Keith figured it was due to spending so much time on a Galra ship. Those things clearly didn’t care about whether their prisoners were strapped in for take offs or landings.

Keith, on the other hand, had to grab onto the side of Lance’s bed to keep from falling. Once they were in orbit Keith placed the thermometer in Lance’s mouth and paced. There wasn’t much else he could do. He didn’t want to leave Lance, but he couldn’t sit still either. Lance rolled in bed and the thermometer tumbled to the ground.

Thankfully, it didn’t break, but it did roll under the bed so Keith, grumbling all the while, had to press himself to the floor to grab it. What he found surprised him. He pulled out a smaller book that was more toward the front and found his spy book. Keith looked at Lance’s sleeping figure in surprise.

Lance was the one who had written those letters? Well, the first one made sense now. The second one didn’t make as much sense. How could Lance look at him like that? Lance always tried to pick fights with him, get him riled up. All he wanted to do was prove he was better. There’s no way Lance could have written something that…sweet.

Keith wasn’t someone Lance constantly flirted with. Actually, Keith had never seen Lance flirt with anyone other than a female, or someone who appeared to be female. So why him? Why had Lance chosen him? It didn’t make sense.

Not that Keith was appalled. Shiro hadn’t been wrong when he said Lance was Keith’s type. He just hadn’t been expecting something between him and Lance to be possible.

Keith placed the book back where he’d found it. If Lance wanted to keep his identity a secret then he was going to let him. Keith would play along and see where this went. If it just turned out to be Lance having some fun Keith would be hurt, but he’d get over it.

Keith was covering Lance with another blanket when a weak, freezing cold hand touched his wrist.

“Keith,” Lance’s voice was soft and he had clearly gotten warm enough for a light blush to dust his cheeks. “Cuddle.”

There was something about the look in Lance’s eyes that made it hard for Keith to resist. He climbed under the blankets with Lance and the other curled against him. For both of them to fit in Lance’s bed Lance practically had to lay almost on top of Keith.

Lance didn’t seem to mind. He was currently using Keith’s chest as a pillow and Keith was surprised to find he didn’t mind the close contact. This wasn’t something he was used to, but if it was Lance he didn’t think he’d mind.

Lance was happy when Keith didn’t leave, or run out of the room screaming. If he had to come up with some kind of cover tomorrow he’d just say Keith was a hot head so obviously there was enough heat for both of them to share. That would work, he decided before drifting off to sleep again.


	11. Passing Notes

Keith woke with Lance’s hair tickling his chin. The other boy was curled up with his head laying on Keith’s trachea. He wanted to leave. Lance would hate him if he woke up to this, but he was trapped. He tried to push down the little ball of fear and guilt that was making its way up to his chest.

Lance was going to hate him for this. There was no way he wouldn’t. Keith had taken advantage of the blue pirate. Keith forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat. This was bad. Lance had been cold and probably out of it, when he woke up…Keith could see it now. Lance picking another argument with him. Maybe even adding on how this was Keith’s fault. If only Keith had walked away.

Then he wouldn’t be in this mess. Then he wouldn’t have the boy he’d been trying so very hard not to fall in love with sleeping on his chest. What would Shiro think?

If Keith was honest with himself he would have known Shiro wouldn’t care as long as both of them were safe. But Keith wasn’t good at being honest with himself. What he saw was Shiro’s disappointed face and the “I’m not mad just disappointed” talk. Shiro had trusted him to take care of Lance, to keep his distance and not hurt himself even more. Now here he was in bed with a guy he never had a chance with.

Lance was funny and he had a smile that could light up a room. Keith could see that smile in his mind’s eye and a warmth grew in his chest. It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time and something he didn’t want to feel right now. This was Lance. Lance who flirted with anything that resembled a girl. Lance who only paid attention to him when he was looking for a fight.

Lance shifted in his sleep and Keith felt the icicle of fear stab his heart. For a second he could have sworn it stopped beating. This was it. This was when Lance woke up and punched him in the face. Where he had to defend himself, even though, this time, he knew he was in the wrong. He never should have taken advantage of Lance like that. To climb into bed with someone who had just had a near death experience. Keith had never wanted to become that kind of person.

Every time Lance moved, was anyone supposed to move that much in their sleep, Keith felt that same fear. Heard those same thoughts banging around his head. Each and every time Lance made a sound Keith prepared himself for a fight. One he didn’t want, but was inevitable. It had almost become Lance’s job to see how many things he could make an argument out of. Maybe the blue pirate saw it as a game?

Then it happened, as it inevitably would. Lance snuggled into Keith’s collar bone just as he was waking up.

Lance, for his part, remembered almost everything. He remembered inviting Keith into his bed, and at that thought the heat rose to his cheeks. Had he actually done that? Invited Keith? His sworn enemy. To bed? And Keith had accepted. The proof of that was not only the body lying under Lance but the memory of Keith, without complaint staying.

Keith started when Lance’s bare foot tapped his shoe. After that Lance sat up as quickly as he could and Keith felt that same fear. As Lance ripped the covers off the bed Keith was sitting up, ready to leave at any moment. He wasn’t in the mood for a fight. Not right now. He would just leave if it came to that. Which it would any second now.

“Are those shoes?” Lance asked. “In my bed?”

Keith was taken by surprise. He had expected Lance to start a fight, but not over this. This was an odd thing to start a fight over. Solely out of curiosity, Keith willingly rose to the bait.

“Obviously,” Keith replied. “Or did you suddenly forget what shoes are?”

“No! I didn’t forget!” Lance replied, pushing Keith off the bed and throwing the blanket away. “You can’t wear shoes in the bed! I know you were an orphan, but c’mon Keith! Have at least half a lick of common sense!”

Keith just barely caught himself from hitting his tail bone on the metal floor. Wat was Lance talking about? Didn’t he know you didn’t know when Zarkon or another pirate crew could strike? You always had to be ready. That was what he was thinking. What he said was: “I always wear them to bed. You don’t?”

Lance looked appalled by the idea. “No! Only a heathen would wear dirty shoes into their bed! You don’t know what kind of weird, nasty alien germs could be on the bottom of those shoes. You could have stepped in alien cow manure and now I have to wash all of my sheets because you could have gotten alien death germs on my blankets!”

“Death germs?” Keith asked. Could Lance have come up with anything more convincing? “You’ve probably already come in contact with those germs without them being on your blanket.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to sleep with them!” Lance snapped as his bare feet touched the cold floor. He shivered slightly, remembering what it was like to be in the blasting cold.

“You’re already sleeping with them,” Keith muttered, but sometimes there were fights that weren’t worth it. He quickly decided this was one of them. “I’ll take them off next time.”

“Next time?” Lance asked.

That was the moment Keith realized he fucked up. That was it. Time to die of embarrassment. Keith wasn’t sure what to do. He looked at Lance, unable to look away from the one who was about to tell him he never wanted to see him again. What else was new? Keith thought bitterly. Even his parents didn’t want him. They’d sold him into a life of military slavery.

“Never mind,” Keith muttered. “You’re awake and no longer delirious. I’ll tell Hunk to bring you something. Shiro wanted you to stay here longer. Probably to make sure you really are better.”

“Keith,” Lance’s voice was soft.

It made Keith want to stay. It made it him want to do something stupid, like run into Lance’s arms. Instead of doing something stupid, he continued to the door.

“Keith, don’t you dare walk through that door!” Lance’s voice took on a sterner tone, but not one that actually commanded respect.

Keith knew better. He couldn’t face Lance in this situation. Couldn’t take the warmth he was pushing down and freezing over. So, he left. He left Lance standing there in bare feet on the cold floor covered only by the thin suit they wore under their armor. He made his way to the training deck.

He knew he had to get the feelings to go away. If he couldn’t at least push these feelings away so he could at least pretend they were gone then everyone would be in danger. Lance more so. If, by chance, someone was to find out about his feelings Lance could be used as a bargaining chip and that would kill not only Keith, but the rest of their team. They would all be devastated. He needed to punch something.

“Stupid Keith!” Lance muttered as he pulled on a pair of blue lion slippers and actual clothes.

Why did he have to go and say something like that and then leave? It didn’t make sense. He couldn’t wrap his head around Keith. The boy was an enigma. One Lance was pretty sure he didn’t have the mental capacity to figure out.

Lance sighed. There was no point in staying here. Even if Shiro wanted him to stay. It felt weird, different now. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt like the walls were closing in. That was his cue to leave before something he really didn’t want anyone to see happened.

As he left his room he made a small detour past the training room to see Keith get slammed against the wall by the bot. Lance couldn’t stop himself from wincing sympathetically. He remembered what it felt like to bounce off that floor and then hit the wall. It wasn’t a pleasant combination, but Keith was getting back up.

Even Lance, who had no idea how to use a sword, could tell Keith was off his game. The red pirate wasn’t moving nearly as quickly as normal. Plus, he was dropping his guard. The bots were made to look for those things. Once again, Keith went sliding across the floor, but then the robot stopped.

Lance figured Keith finally realized training was pointless and had the simulation stop. It’s what made sense to him. Clearly, whatever made Keith walk out of his room before Lance could finish his sentence was bothering him. As much as everyone liked to poke fun, he wasn’t as dumb as they made him out to be. He knew when people were going through tough times.

Keith clearly was, but Lance also knew Keith wouldn’t talk to him. It would spark another argument, which would then cause Keith to go right back onto the training deck. It was an endless loop Lance didn’t have the patience to deal with right now.

Hunk and Lance turned the corner at the same time causing the other to jump.

“Lance?” Hunk asked. “You aren’t supposed to be out of your room.”

Lance shrugged, “I was hungry.” When he thought the words up it wasn’t exactly the truth, but as soon as they left his mouth he realized how hungry he was.

“I’ll make you some soup,” Hunk said as he practically pulled Lance to the kitchen. Keith was supposed be keeping this boy in his room. What happened to that? Hunk shook his head. That didn’t matter now. What was important was getting Lance something warm to eat.

Normally, Lance would have protested. Tried to convince Hunk he didn’t have to go through the trouble, but he knew better now. Hunk enjoyed making sure everyone was fed and taken care of. He’d practically turned into their Space Mom. Besides, cooking helped Hunk relax and from what Lance had seen of the crew so far, they all needed to relax.

“Where’s Shiro?” Lance asked as he pulled himself onto the counter.

“With Allura and Coran,” Hunk replied. “They’re trying to find the best spots to hit now that Shay had given us more information on Galra inhabited planets.”

“How is Shay?” Lance asked. He hadn’t really spoken to her since they’d left the Balmera, she obviously preferred talking to Hunk.

“She’s doing alright,” Hunk replied. “Apparently, the Galra tried to return once, but Rax formed a militia and they had the Galra fleeing in a matter of minutes. Of course, it is Shay, so it could have taken an hour or two to actually get the results she was talking about. She likes to exaggerate.”

“How are the two of you?” Lance continued with his questions.

“Good. She wants to be in a relationship, but she’s just so innocent, ya know?” Hunk said as he carefully mixed whatever soup he was mixing. “I want her to meet more people make sure she wants to settle down with me. Not that I don’t want her to, but I’m not sure if she likes me or if she thinks she does because I saved her and her people.”

“You saved her?” Lance asked, feigning offense. “All by yourself?”

Hunk rolled his eyes, but smiled. “You know what I meant, Lance. Why are you asking about me and Shay? Are you trying to get advice on your own love life?”

“No!” Lance replied quickly. The kitchen was silent for a few seconds before Lance continued in a much softer tone. “Unless, of course, you want to give some. If that were the case I’d be all ears.”

Hunk couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped him. “You’ve finally admitted you like him?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Lance replied. “I don’t know why! He’s so mean and standoffish all the time! I mean, how is anyone supposed to break through that? But he’s so sweet. You should have seen the way he looked at the flower crown that little Arusian gave him. He looked at it like he was going to cherish it forever.” If Lance hadn’t grown up with sisters he’d be asking how someone could be that complicated.

“You want my advice?” Hunk asked. “You’re sending letters to him. Keep doing that. Eventually, he’ll come around and when he starts sharing more personal things in the letters then you can offer to introduce yourself. Speaking of letters.” Hunk picked a book up from the counter beside him and Lance cursed himself for not noticing it. “He left you this and one of your letters made him blush.”

“Yeah, well, I may or may not have told him he looked nice in a flower crown,” Lance muttered to himself as he opened the letter. So, Keith had written back to him. It made his feel special. Keith actually sat down to write something and then leave it the same way Lance would have.

A small part of his brain, that wasn’t decoding the letter as he read, decided this would be a game. Lance smiled at the thought and the warm bubbles in his heart. Keith was paying attention to him in a way that didn’t involve them yelling at each other. He wanted to keep playing this game forever.

Lance pulled a small note pad out of the pocket of his jacket and began writing a coded letter. He could now write an entire letter without have to look at a key and it made him proud. He had memorized and learned a code more quickly than Keith. Although, he didn’t want to admit that making the code came with certain advantages.

_How long have you and Shiro known each other? How did the two of you meet? You don’t have to answer my questions if you don’t want to, but I do have a few more that are a bit less personal. What’s your favorite book in your collection? I’ve also almost finished the spy book. I’m not sure how I feel about it. There’s no way Annie would betray Chris. Right? I mean they love each other. Love triumphs over all. Right?_

Lance’s nose scrunched as the soup was placed beside him. Had that not been too cheesy? Probably, but who cares. It would be fine. Maybe give Keith small, tiny hints about who he might be. It would be fun to entertain.

“Is something wrong with the soup?” Hunk asked, concerned by Lance’s screwed up face.

“No, no, just thinking about the letter,” Lance replied. He then took a bite of the soup just to prove his point. The soup wasn’t perfect, but it was amazing by anyone’s standards, as long as they weren’t Hunk. Lance thought about not saying anything, but this was Hunk. He’d be more upset if Lance didn’t tell him what was wrong with it than if Lance just refused to eat it altogether. “It’s a little salty, but it still tastes great. Thanks, Hunk!”

Hunk looked over his ingredients before nodding to himself. He made a mental note to use less of certain ones and then turned to Lance.

“You mind if I look over your letter?” Hunk asked, already grabbing the paper.

Lance, whose mouth was full, gestured to the paper which was essentially the same as giving the go ahead. It wouldn’t have mattered much anyway. Lance had heard from Pidge that Hunk had a habit of reading people’s diaries.

“I think I upset him,” Lance said quietly. “We were cuddling and then I woke up and started yelling at him, but really Hunk. Who wears their shoes while they sleep? That’s just wrong. Anyway, I woke up and then he said something cryptic like next time he wouldn’t wear his shoes. I can’t tell if it was a slip up or if he actually meant he wanted there to be a next time. I mean it’s Keith. There’s no way he likes me. All he wants to do is start fights.”

“Lance, I think you’re looking at this all wrong,” Hunk said as the oven timer dinged. “Keith doesn’t hate you. Think about it, when has he started and argument with you? You antagonize him and his rises to the bait, but I don’t think he’s started more than one or two fights. He’s always looking for your reaction first. Maybe he thinks the same thing about you?”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure we’re looking at the same person?”

Hunk gave Lance a half-glared sarcastic look and Lance was forced to shrug.

“Okay, okay,” he said as he slid off the counter. “I’m going to put this somewhere. Do you think I should put it in a different book so he knows the letter is different?”

“I think he’ll know,” Hunk replied, now distracted with the brownies he was pulling out of the oven.

 

Keith was practically dragging himself off the training deck. If he hadn’t been paying more attention he would have stepped on the book Lance had placed there. He was too tired to hide the smile that graced his features. He didn’t even have the strength to push down the warm feeling in his chest.

He made his way back to his room, book cradled to his chest, feeling more energized than he had a few minutes prior. So, of course, that was when Shiro found him.

Shiro was on his way to the training deck when he passed by Keith. Shiro couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at Keith’s expression. Keith looked lost in daydream mode with an almost love-struck smile on his face. Shiro crossed the hall, leaning against the wall in front of Keith.

“Did you get another note?” Shiro asked.

Keith was embarrassed, it was obvious in the way he looked at the book. Like a child caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“Uh, yeah,” Keith stuttered for a moment. Shiro had caught him, great. Now he’d know there was someone on the ship he liked. Then Keith shook his head. He was being stupid. Shiro already knew he liked Lance. Now that Keith thought about it, he was pretty sure Shiro had known that from the very moment Lance set foot in the castle. “I even figured out the whole code.”

Shiro smiled proudly at the pirate who had become his brother. He had taught Keith to use his head differently than he was used to and it had paid off. It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected Keith to get it, but knowing it had only been a week or two and Keith had figured it out with what? Three or four notes? He was beyond proud. Keith would make an excellent leader one day.

“Have you figured out who’s sending them?” Shiro asked.

Keith looked down at the note, not wanting to make eye contact with Shiro when he was blushing.

“Yeah.” Keith smiled longingly at the note. “Lance.” Then he quickly added. “But he doesn’t know that I know, so don’t tell him.”

Shiro smirked. “Are you going to send him love letters?”

“I’m walking away now,” Keith muttered. He knew Shiro was teasing, and he was glad to finally have that Shiro back, but as Keith made his way back to his room he couldn’t bring himself to admit that had been an incomplete thought.

He didn’t read the letter until he got to his room and once he had Keith found himself giving a small laugh. Lance had gotten to that portion of the novel. Sure enough, Lance was going to be disappointed in that ending.

_Shiro and I met at the Garrison. Older officers tended to take younger trainees, especially the ones who have been there the longest, under their wing as apprentices. Shiro was the best of them. He took me in and became the only family I had. He became like a brother maybe even a father to me. He was the only one in that place that cared about teaching me to be a person. Everyone else tried to make me something else._

_We spent four years together. Shiro was an amazing pilot and even at 16 he became one of the best. He let them groom him for perfection, but I could tell he didn’t like it. I knew him better than any of them. Then they sent him away. To Kerberos, with Pidge’s brother and father. After that I didn’t see him for another year._

_He was taken by the Galra, forced to fight in a Gladiator ring and then he escaped. We’re still not sure how. When he got out he was different. I mean I shouldn’t have expected him not to be, but it hurt. Knowing what those monsters, both the Garrison and the Galra, had done to him. He’s just now started joking with me again, and I think I have the loudmouth flirt to thank for that. Having someone here with a sense of humor is helping him relax. He’s not pushing us as hard and he’s willing to joke with me. I don’t think he’s done it much with the others, but baby steps._

_Speaking of the new kid he flirts with every girl he sees. I don’t understand why he can’t just stop. They clearly aren’t interested in him. He’s just annoying them, though he did stop seriously flirting with Allura. Now it’s more of an out of habit thing._

_If you must know my favorite book is one that hasn’t left my room so you wouldn’t have seen it. It’s about Mothman._

_I’m sorry I can’t tell you the ending of the book you’re reading, but I feel like you’ll have your answer by the time you read my letter. What about you? Tell me about yourself._

Once Keith wrote the full letter his shoulders dropped. He had written a lot more than he had intended. Now he would have to code all of it. He wished he could be there when Lance decoded the letter, but then there would be no point to this.

He tucked the letter into the pages of the book before poking his head out his door. He was looking for Lance. He didn’t want to be seen putting this book back, but then he shrugged. It didn’t matter if Lance saw him. Lance knew he was writing back, Keith was the one who was supposed to be in the dark about who he was communicating with.


	12. Not All Galra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Not All Galra"  
> "You're right, Ulaz would never"

“I’m pretty sure Lance and Keith are in a relationship that only they don’t know about,” Hunk said quietly to the hologram Shay sitting atop his desk.

She giggled and his heart melted. He loved to hear her laugh, it added brightness to the world. He remembered hearing someone tell him once that a child’s first laugh gave a fairy wings and Hunk was pretty sure every time Shay laughed it created fairies.

“How does that happen?” Shay asked. As far as she was concerned it had been simple to know whether she and Hunk were in a relationship or not. All she had done was ask. Were people to silly to figure that out?

“It happens more often than it should,” Hunk replied. He gathered his thoughts before continuing. “People are too afraid to ask what someone thinks of them. So, they never ask. People are also afraid of judgment. So, when someone does ask they sometimes lie. Especially, when it’s about love and even more especially when it’s about them being in love with someone they think doesn’t like them. That’s where those two are right now. They both clearly like each other, but they’re reading too far into it. Or maybe not far enough.” Then he shrugged. “They’ll figure it out.”

Shay shook her head. She was pretty sure she’d never understand how humans worked. She barely understood how Galra worked. Speaking of Galra!

“I have a message,” she said as she quickly tapped the screen in front of her, causing he figure to shimmer. “A Galra that was dressed oddly visited. He gave me those coordinates and said I was to get them to Shiro. I do not think he means any harm. He did not seem like the others who came, who hurt. He gave life back to the Balmera.”

He wanted to say the idea of a kind Galra was farfetched, but then he remembered Sal. Kind Galra were there, you just had to be willing to see past the fluffy, purple ears, unsettling, yellow eyes, and glistening, sharp teeth. It was a tall order for most considering what the Galra had done to them, but knowing there were some of Zarkon’s own kind who wanted to stop him was comforting.

“I’ll get this to him, don’t worry,” Hunk assured her.

“I know you will,” Shay replied, kicking at something the hologram didn’t show. “What are you working on?”

“I’m trying to reverse engineer the Galra drones,” Hunk replied. “I’m trying to find something we can use to take them down before we even get in the building. They have an ever-evolving firewall that Pidge is even struggling with so I’m hoping this helps.” He flicked a piece of metal that had once been a finger, at the wall. “It’s not going so well, but I’m making progress.”

“I know you can do it,” Shay said with the cheeriest voice Hunk had ever heard.

“Thank you, Shay,” he said as a wide smile made its way across his face. Shay was just so cute he couldn’t help it. She made him feel like a kid when he’d had his first crush. Shay was perfect and he couldn’t imagine wanting to spend his life with anyone else.

She was just so smart, and kind, and willing to learn. Plus, she wanted to learn. She actively asked questions and sought him out when she didn’t understand. It was an interesting conundrum when he got sick after visiting the Balmera. He’d never been the healthiest kid, but he hadn’t expected to get gut wrenchingly sick just from visiting another planet. Retrospect, told him he should have.

He was entering a completely foreign atmosphere. That meant different microbials that his body wasn’t used to fending off. The food here was also different too, which meant, because he tried the food to make sure it tasted good and was edible, he tended to get sick a bit more than everyone else. At least he’d mostly gotten over the motion sickness. That had been the worst few months ever.

He’d grown annoyed with the droid finger and was now typing away at a small handheld device. He and Pidge had been working on uploading Earth games to the list of video games. Lance had requested Mario Cart and he was looking for it now. Then he’d sent it to Pidge so she could upload it into the castle’s data base.

All the while still chatting with Shay. He listened as she talked about her family. Apparently, Rax was leaving, going to some distant planet to join the resistance. That would either be good for him or very, very bad. Hunk hadn’t decided which yet. Shay was also learning how to cook. It was something her grandmother had taken pride in so Shay had never gotten the chance to learn. The more they talked the more Hunk’s heart hurt.

He wanted to be with her. On the Balmera, that was where he felt he belonged. With Shay and her family. With those he hoped would, one day, become his family. He knew it was a lot to hope for, but he just felt so right standing on the Balmera. He felt like he was home. He also wouldn’t mind at least a few minutes of Shay holding him in her arms.

There was so much more he wanted to tell her about the universe, but she had to go and he should probably get on taking that information to Shiro.

 

Pidge was tapping away at the keys of her computer that was hooked to Hunks video com. Everyone was gathered around her as though they understood what was actually streaming across the screen. Lance had taken a few steps back and decided to watch Pidge’s reactions instead. They said more to him than the series of numbers on her screen.

“Weird,” she mumbled more to herself.

Lance smiled as he watched. This was a serious situation, sure, but Pidge was so in her element she didn’t even realize she was speaking aloud. It reminded him of his sisters. They would get so engrossed in one of their projects the world around them would disappear.

“What?” Allura asked, leaning over Shiro to get a better look.

“I’ve seen this code before,” Pidge replied, clearly distracted. “I wonder…” There was more tapping away at the laptop before she gave a triumphant shout. “I wasn’t sure, because it didn’t make sense. A Galra sending codes to us. It would be such an obvious trap, especially since—“

“Pidge,” Shiro warned. As much as he wouldn’t have minded listening to her ramble he could feel Allura’s nails digging into his shoulder. He wasn’t sure the princess could wait much longer for an answer.

“Right,” Pidge at least had the decency to look sheepish. “Well, it’s the same coordinates as the ones we found in Shiro’s arm. Remember? After he told us a Galra helped him escape?”

“Wait, if you’ve had allies this whole time why are they giving you the same coordinates?” Lance asked. He felt like he was missing something.

“We don’t have allies,” Keith replied. “We all agreed the Galra are bad. They took Shiro and implanted fake memories so he would willingly walk into a trap. Remember?”

Lance was actually surprised to find only Pidge and Allura seemed to agree. Shiro and Hunk were less enthusiastic. He was more surprised by Shiro’s lack of enthusiasm. After all, the Galra had taken Shiro’s arm, why would he be willing to do this?

Hunk was almost offended that Keith still held the belief that all Galra were bad. He remembered the day he’d spent in Sal’s shop. Maybe the beginning circumstances weren’t the best, but he’d grown to care about the gruff Galra. The man was just trying to make a living, he wasn’t hurting people and his business was booming. Occasionally, Shay would send him messages from Sal, because there was no way Allura was going to allow them to be sent through the ship. Hunk was pretty sure if Allura ever found out he’d met and helped a Galra she’d kill him.

“We should go,” Shiro said sternly. “We didn’t last time and they clearly want to make contact. This time we should go. It might be our only chance at defeating Zarkon.”

“Voltron is the only thing that can defeat Zarkon,” Allura said sadly. “And I cannot locate any of the lions.”

“Our next best chance,” Shiro amended. “We need to see what they want.”

“It could be a trap,” Pidge pointed out.

“It probably is a trap,” Keith corrected.

Shiro looked at both of them, then the princess. “Allura, it’s your ship, but we have to look. If something happens we’ll have the castle as back up.”

“I don’t like it,” Allura said, turning on her heel.

“I know,” Shiro said with a defeated sigh before putting his head in his hands.

“Send the coordinates to Coran. He’ll chart a course.” Allura continued without showing she’d even heard Shiro speak.

The four teens looked at each other, not daring to speak until the door slid closed behind Allura. So, Shiro and Allura were having a lover’s spat. They’d be over it soon. Right?

“Pidge, don’t forget to send those coordinates to Coran,” Shiro said as he stood. “I’ll be on the bridge.”

“Make her smile,” Lance said chipperly. “It’ll at least smooth things over.”

Shiro rolled his eyes, but inwardly tucked that bit of information away for later. It might not work with Allura, but at this point anything was worth a shot.

“Space Dad is going to comfort Space Mom,” Pidge teased when the door closed behind Shiro.

“Allura is not Space Mom,” Lance was almost disgusted with the thought. “A mom should be the one who gives good hugs, and always makes sure everyone is taken care of, and fed. Hunk would make a great candidate for Space Mom. I think Allura is more like Space Aunt, or Space Big Sis. Pidge is The Hacker and I’m the Sharpshooter. That would make Keith Samurai.” Lance nodded once, proud of the code names he’d come up with.

“What would that make Coran?” Hunk asked causing Pidge to groan.

“Space Nigel Thornberry, of course,” Lance said as though it were obvious.

Pidge actually snorted and Hunk was nodding slowly, processing the information. Keith was the only one looking genuinely confused.

“Who?” the poor red-clad boy asked. He looked so confused and lost Lance couldn’t even find it in himself to make fun of Keith.

Lance snatched Pidge’s phone from the floor beside her and motioned for Keith to join him on one of the crates. “I’ll show you.”

“If you start chilling without the Netflix I’m going to take the phone,” Pidge warned.

“Pidge!” Lance shouted as his eras turned red. He wanted to say he’d never do something like that with Keith, but he couldn’t. Not with Keith sitting beside him, their legs touching. It wasn’t much contact, but where they touched he felt like he was on fire. Maybe he was allergic? Allergic to Keith?

While it wouldn’t have surprised him when he first got here, he was in too deep to get out of it by telling himself that. He was pretty sure he knew what this feeling was, but if he admitted it he’d run the risk of getting hurt. What if Keith shot him down? Or Worse, what if he didn’t? What would happen then? If they did have a fight there would be no avoiding each other. They’d have to come to a solution quickly.

Poor Keith just looked completely confused. Why would chilling with someone be bad. It meant you were just hanging out. You could do that without watching videos with people. Especially, without the weird Netflix with all the Altean shows. Some of those were…different.

“Anyway,” Lance said as he searched through Pidge’s phone. “Here, this video should prove my point.”

A few hours later the two of them were laughing at the sad cat diaries and watching cat fail videos. By this point Pidge was too engrossed in reprogramming Earth games to work on the Altean system to care what those two were doing and Hunk had gone off on his own.

Lance looked up from one of the videos and caught a sight that almost took his breath away. Keith was staring into the phone, the hint of a smile on his face, his bangs hanging low over his face. He could figure out why it made him want to lift Keith’s chin and kiss him, but it did.

He hadn’t realized he was leaning in until Keith looked up. Lance blushed, looking away quickly.

“Right! Well, that’s enough internet for today,” Lance was proud of himself for keeping his voice steady. “I guess I’ll see you later.” With that he made a run for the door and was gone before anyone could stop him.

“He was going to kiss me, right?” Keith asked, a bit disheartened. He could have sworn he and Lance had had something in that moment. Maybe he had just read the situation wrong? He wasn’t always good at that, even though Shiro assured him he was getting better. People just didn’t make sense to him.

“I never thought Lance would run from his feelings,” Pidge sounded like she was analyzing a new toy. “The more you know.”

“You can’t run from feelings,” Keith said quietly. “They’re inside you and it’s impossible to run from something inside you.”

“But you can abort it,” Pidge had also taken it upon herself to copy Lance’s finger guns. “Seriously, though. He likes you, I think he’s just scared.”

“So, he was?” Keith asked once more for clarification.

Pidge rolled her eyes. These two boys were so dense. How they had survived this long was beyond her. “Yes, Keith. Lance was going to kiss you.”

 

Lance leaned against the wall. He was standing in the hall just outside his door and he was debating on what to do next. He was battling between going back in there and talking to Keith. He needed to get this sorted out. He had to come clean, about his feelings and the letters.

He heard boots quickly slapping the tile floor and moving toward him. At least he thought they were. Sometimes it was hard to tell because of the echo. When he saw Keith, he panicked. Keith had followed him? Why? Unless…No! Lance couldn’t get his hopes up. Keith would laugh at him as soon as he mentioned it.

Lance took a deep breath of the stale reused air of the castle before opening his door. “I guess the two of us should talk.”

Keith followed Lance in, the lights flicking on as soon as they entered. The only thing that was a mess was Lance’s desk. There were papers and skin care products scattered amongst the surface.

“I’m sorry,” Lance started, before Keith could even ask why Lance continued. “I know I shouldn’t have taken your books and sent you those letters. I can’t even remember why I did it now, but I should have told you sooner. I was just having so much fun with the letters and you were actually talking to me, even though you didn’t know it was me. I didn’t want to lose that, but I kept getting closer and I wanted to be with you. I wanted to be able to talk to you like this. Well, not like this—“

“Lance,” Keith interrupted a bit more sternly than he intended. “You’re rambling.”

“Sorry,” Lance apologized before taking another breath. “Okay. I love you Keith. There’s no way that isn’t what I’m feeling. I want to be with you and hold your hand. All that cheesy stuff. If you don’t though. It’s okay, we can move on with our lives.”

Keith wasn’t stunned by the confession. After all, Lance had just tried to kiss him, but he was stunned by Lance’s suggestion. Would either of them really be able to do that? If Keith said he didn’t like Lance in that way would either of them really be able to move on? Probably not, because Keith would be lying and Lance was over-emotional.

“I think I love you too,” Keith replied quietly. He had no talent for emotions and he knew it sounded bad when he said it. He knew it did, but it was the best he could do.

“You think?” Lance asked. Outside he kept his cool, waited for Keith to respond. One the inside he was screaming.

What was that supposed to mean? What does it mean to think you like someone? Is it like a crush phase? Or was he just saying that so Lance wouldn’t hate him? Would this go into one of those situations where Keith would always say he needed more time every time he was confronted with that question? Was Keith just trying to lead him on? Okay, so that last one was highly unlikely.

Keith was about to answer when every alarm in the castle blared in their ears. The two of them, panic in their eyes, raced to the bridge just in time to hear Allura shouting about an intruder.

Keith and Lance jumped into their specified areas and tossed their armor on as quickly as they could. Before they had time to completely register what was happening all five pirates were standing in different halls.

Lance felt it was soon as the guy hit him. He went flying against the nearest heard surface, he was pretty sure it was the floor.

“Okay, so this guy packs a punch,” Lance muttered as he tried to hit the intruder’s feet as he ran by. That had hurt more than he’d expected, he couldn’t stop himself from checking his armor. It felt like it should have cracked under a hit like that, but it was still in one piece. Somehow.

As he forced himself to stand he felt every bone in his body protest. His ribs had taken most of the hit and they weren’t happy, but he wasn’t injured, just needed a second to catch his breath.

Pidge was in her usual spot among the air ducts, more specifically, the ones she could look down from. She had already carved out a nice jumping hole and lay in wait, out of sight until the best moment to strike like a snake in the grass. When the intruder came rushing around the corner she shot her bayard at the back of the intruder. She had meant for it to tangle both his legs.

What she hadn’t been expecting was for him to jump and then roll to grab the bayard and pull her from her perch. She’d never seen anyone this fast and this capable of predicting their movements.

She hit the ground with a crash but had enough sense in her to attempt to shock the intruder. Which was no good. It must have been the way the suit, or at least the gloves, were made. They didn’t seem to allow any electricity to pass through.

Once she got ahold of those gloves she would have to analyze them. That material would make a fantastic under layer to the armor they currently had. Just as she finished that thought she was tossed into a wall and the intruder dropped her bayard. There was no catching up with him now.

“Keith’s turn!” Coran shouted over the castle’s intercom. It sounded like he was treating the entire thing like a game. That’s something Lance would do too so Keith couldn’t bring himself to be angry.

Keith had his bayard drawn, the red sword pointed downward. He didn’t need it just yet, so there was no point in wasting energy in holding it up completely. When the intruder rushed him, he noticed the glowing symbol on the blade. Keith decided he’d try something different. He tossed his bayard to the side and pulled out the small blade he kept in the sheath between his bags.

Part of him smiled when the intruder faltered. So, he knew what this blade meant then. Maybe this was Keith’s chance to get some answers. The Intruder backed him against the wall. “Where did you get that?”

“It was given to me!” Keith managed to grunt out.

The intruder’s blade may have had the same symbol, but it was longer and the intruder was much stronger than Keith could hope to be.

The intruder stepped back, his blade hovering, daring Keith to move. “Those blades are not freely given. You must earn them, and you haven’t awoken your blade so you clearly didn’t earn it before it was given to you. Who gave you that blade?”

“I’ve always had it,” Keith replied. “My parents gave it to me.”

The helmet the intruder was wearing crawled back across his head to reveal very Galra features. His ears weren’t fluffy at all, they looked more like Altean ears, but his face was clearly Galran.

“Keith!” Shiro shouted down the hall as he ran toward them, but he slowed to a walk and in a more confused tone added: “Ulaz?”

The intruder turned to Shiro and nodded as Keith quickly put his blade away. Hopefully, Shiro hadn’t noticed it and if he had hopefully he wouldn’t ask. It was the one secret he had kept from Shiro and now that he knew it had something to do with Galra he was more inclined to keep it that way.

“You know each other?” Keith asked, concerned. Most of the Galra Shiro remembered elicited a much different response. It had never been this casual before

Ulaz sheathed his blade lowered his head. “Your friend has a blade that belonged to my order, but that is a moot point. Now that I know you have come, I welcome you to the Blade of Marmora outpost.”

 

“He is not staying!” Allura had started shouting as soon as they entered the bridge. “I will not allow some quiznacking Galra on my ship! Defiling my castle!”

“Allura,” Shiro led her to the other side of the bridge where they talked in hushed tones, but Allura’s arms were flailing and she was clearly not happy.

“Ulaz,” Keith said quietly, taking a seat beside the Galra. “My blade, you said it belonged to your order. How did it end up on Earth?”

“I cannot say,” Ulaz paused a moment, debating whether he should continue. “But only one with Galra blood in their veins can awaken the blade. If it was given to you by one of your parents, then you must be, at least partially, Galra. That would explain why you fight like a Galra.”

Keith sat up about half an inch taller before going stiff. Him, Galra? No. It couldn’t be true. There was no way. He’d been raised in the Garrison. He was a human, if he was anything else he would have known by now. The Garrison would have snatched him up and used him in experiments. Still, the blade he had didn’t belong on Earth, it was too strange for that.

He didn’t know what to think, and on top of that, Lance was giving him sidelong glances. He clearly wanted to finish the conversation they were having earlier, but now Keith wasn’t so sure. What if Lance thought the same way Allura did? The Galra were bad, now to find out he might be one of them.

Keith forced his face into a neutral expression. It was only a small chance based on one little thing. It could just be that this blade had fallen into his parents’ hands from some random antique shop. Maybe it was all just a lot of coincidences. He was banking on that.

“Thank you,” Keith said quietly. He may not have been satisfied with the answers, but at least he had gotten some.

“You will learn more at the Blade of Marmora headquarters, should Princess Allura trust me enough to take you there,” Ulaz added.

“She may not trust you, but Shiro does,” Keith said. “Why did you help him escape?”

“Shiro was the Champion,” Ulaz explained. “He fought many of the reigning champions in the gladiator arena. He brought something different though. When prisoners look at the Champion they are supposed to feel fear. Shiro gave them hope. We, Thace and I, helped him escape to bring that hope to the universe. The Blades of Marmora took a gamble on him, but it has paid off. We might yet be able to defeat Zarkon.”

It made sense, Keith thought. Shiro could get a group of three teens to work together, add Lance in not too long ago, and have a fully functioning team in a matter of months. All because they looked up to him. No one wanted to get the “I’m not mad, just disappointed,” talk from Shiro. Keith had been through that more than once and it didn’t ever get easier.

“Humans are very expressive,” Ulaz mused. “Blue wishes to speak with you, but he also does not wish to intrude.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “He’s just more expressive than most.” With that he left to pull Lance aside, but it seemed they were never going to get the chance to talk because as soon as he got to Lance’s side Allura spoke.

“I have decided you are allowed on my ship, as long as you only travel here, the dining room, and to your room. You are not to go anywhere else unless Coran or I accompany you. If you have any information in the fight against Zarkon you will tell me now.”

Ulaz stood, even with his hands cuffed he held an air of command, but he was also gangly and almost nerdy looking. He seemed more used to receiving orders rather than giving them. “I cannot give all the information you seek. We do not give information lightly. However, I will give you the coordinates of our main headquarters. There they will be able to give you all the information you seek.”


	13. 12.5 Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1) I'm super sorry I haven't been updating as much. This got super hectic super quickly and it just slipped my mind. 2) This is a super short chapter, but it didn't really fit with the last one and it didn't smoothly transition in with the next so it's a shorter semi-fluffy chapter. After all, I couldn't not include confessions of love.

Keith was starting to get the feeling the universe hated him. It had been two days and he still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Lance. He at least had to tell him how he felt. Keith still hadn’t decided whether or not he wanted to tell Lance about the possible Galra thing. It might be something he should know, if they were going to discuss relationships and deal breakers.

He was thankful that the opportunity arose more quickly than he would have expected. Lance was laying with one leg hooked over the back of the couch in the lounge.

“Lance, can we talk?” Keith asked quietly.

Lance swung his leg down and sat up quickly. “Here or my room?” Once he realized what he said he back peddled. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! I just thought you might like to have somewhere more private! We can go to your room if you want!”

Keith was finding it hard to be angry with Lance for being overdramatic as usual. This boy clearly had sisters.

“Your room is fine,” Keith replied.

Lance hopped up, holding his hand out to Keith. Keith wasn’t the most touchy-feely person, but he wanted to be in a relationship with Lance. This was what he wanted, so he took Lance’s hand.

It wasn’t as bad as Keith had expected. Even if it had been the smile on Lance’s face was perfect. Lance always smiled, but this was different, this one said more. It didn’t matter what kind of smile Lance wore, whether he was laughing hysterically or bouncing happily. He smiled with his entire face, eyes crinkling and lighting up. It was amazing to watch and even more amazing to know he was the reason for Lance’s smile.

“Well?” Lance asked once his door had closed behind him. “What did you want to talk about?”

Keith let go of Lance’s hand to fiddle with his gloves. “I did.”

Lance waited for a few minutes before plopping down on the bed and patting the mattress beside him. Keith looked shook up about something, or at least as shook up as Keith could get. He was standing there, unmoving. It was Lance’s job to get Keith to loosen up.

“Are you feeling alright?” Lance asked as Keith sat down. “It’s okay. You’re going to be alright. No matter what.”

“The other day you said you loved me,” Keith said quietly.

“And you said you think you liked me,” Lance teased. “What the heck does that even mean?”

“I like you, Lance,” Keith said. “Of course, I do. You’re funny, and always putting everyone else before you. I love that about you, but what if it’s not love? I’m not used to feeling these things. I want to be with you, but if something happens and this is a bad idea.”

“Hey,” Lance said, placing his hand on Keith’s. “You’re okay. How about this: We try a relationship. We can take it as slow as you want, if I make you uncomfortable you tell me and I’ll back off. If either one of us finds it doesn’t work then we stop and we sort things out so that we still function as a team.” Lance paused to make sure Keith was hearing what he was saying. “Is that alright?”

Keith nodded before looking up at Lance. His purple eyes were filled with a slight amount of fear. It was more than Lance had ever seen in those purple eyes before.

“There’s something else,” Keith said, pulling the small dagger from its sheath.

“Whoa, there Keith,” Lance said holding up his hands. “This is a relationship, not a blood pact.”

“Not that you idiot!” Keith snapped in playful annoyance before becoming more serious. “This blade, it has the same markings as the one Ulaz carries. He said it was from there secret order. I’ve had this blade all my life and I might finally get the chance to find out what it means.”

Lance waited for a moment, when Keith didn’t say anything he gave him a gently nudge. “There’s more. Isn’t there?”

“The only people with these blades are Galra,” Keith said, his voice was so low Lance barely heard him.

“So, where did you get the knife from?” Lance asked.

“My parents,” Keith replied. “It’s been so long, I don’t remember which one, but I know it came from them.”

“So, at least one of your parents was Galra,” Lance said with a thoughtful hum. “Which also means you’re part Galra.”

“I don’t want the others to know,” Keith said. “Look at the way Allura is with Ulaz. I don’t want anyone to know.”

“I’ve got your back,” Lance assured him. He pulled Keith close before kissing his cheek. “I’ll take care of you.”

“I can take care of myself,” Keith muttered, but he snuggled closer. He liked the feeling of being wrapped in Lance’s arms. It felt safe. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this warmth in his chest. He could have fallen asleep there, leaning against Lance’s chest.

“Thank you, Keith,” Lance said, laying his chin on the top of Keith’s head. “You know, you’re not so bad when we’re not fighting.”

“You’re one who started them,” Keith pointed out tiredly.


	14. The Horrors of War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm sorry these chapters are coming out a lot later than expected, but I will be back on track now.

The five of them were gathered on the bridge as the ship flew. Ulaz, Pidge and Coran were off analyzing prisoner data Ulaz had offered Pidge. Keith, Hunk, and Lance were playing a game the was a lot like Mario Cart, but with strange looking horses instead of cars. The three of them were sitting in their designated seats and Lance was watching Keith’s screen as much as he was his own.

Keith’s weird red and black scaled horse was catching up to Lance’s gold and blue one. Hunks gold and white horse was pretty far behind, but he was still having fun. It was more fun to watch Lance and Keith than it was to actually win.

“I’m catching up Lance,” Keith taunted, though it sounded like more of a warning.

“Not if I do this!” Lance replied as he pressed a button on his controller.

His horse in the game dropped a large poop that Keith was too close to avoid so the red and black horse slipped and spun out of control for a few seconds. As Keith struggled to gain control again the NPC horses zipped past him until he had gone from second place to seventh.

Allura and Shiro were standing at the front of the bridge. She was still torn about having Ulaz on the ship and now delivering themselves to what could either be one of the worst things ever or one of her better decisions. Unfortunately, there would be no way to tell until they were too far in to back out.

“They’re getting along,” Shiro said with a small smile, gesturing to Lance and Keith. He knew Allura wasn’t feeling perfect. She needed something to distract her. “I wonder if one of them finally confessed.”

Allura gave Shiro one of her more innocent smiles. “Because you have room to talk when it comes to confessing.” She made sure she was looking at the window in front of her while Shiro sputtered to find the right words.

Shiro shook his head before offering her a shrug. So, she was right. He didn’t have room to talk, but it was clear they both cared for each other. Just as it was clear Hunk and Shay were forming something of their own.

The screen in front of the two of them flashed a startling red. Some unknown frequency was trying to send them a message. Allura looked at Shiro a bit uncertainly.

“It’s a Garrison frequency,” Shiro replied, before radioing down to Pidge and Coran who were working on something. “Pidge, we’re going to have a broadcast coming through. See if you can get an exact location. Boys, game off.”

He was pretty sure he heard Lance mutter something along the lines of ‘yes, Dad’ but when he turned around all of them were walking up to him. Keith was standing a bit further back than usual, but that wasn’t new. What was, was the way he planted himself at Lance’s side.

They usually stood together, but this was different. This wasn’t to stand in each other’s space. It looked like it was more for comfort. They were both relaxed by sharing their personal space.

“This is Princess Allura of Altea,” Allura said, pulling herself up to her full height.

Keith and Shiro tensed as they watched a very familiar person speak. Iverson was not the worst man in the Garrison, but he was nowhere near the best either. Why was he hailing their ship? How had he found it?

Keith was looking at Shiro hoping for answers, but he wasn’t going to get them until after this conversation.

“I was hoping I’d find you,” Iverson said looking right at Lance. “The McClain boy.”

Lance was tense, but he drew himself to his full height and raised his chin.

Shiro rolled his eyes. “I find it hard to believe you’d spend this many resources on a runaway you never got your hands on. The Garrison must be truly boring if this is what you spend your money on.”

Iverson ignored him and stepped to the side where the camera focused on a woman, hunched against the wall. She looked like she’d been beaten within an inch of her life, but her eyes were still fiery and stubborn.

Lance barely twitched, but Keith felt the difference. Probably, because they were standing so close together. Lance was scared, beyond that, he was terrified.

He watched, feigning indignance. He couldn’t show that man how much he cared. They were only keeping his family alive as a bargaining chip. Not that he should have been surprised.

“Is that supposed to be impressive?” Lance asked.

Upon hearing Lance’s voice to woman lifted her head. “Lance? Lance.”

That was about all Keith could recognize. After that it was quick, almost frantic sounding Spanish. Keith was only able to pick out a few words. Mostly ‘casa’ and ‘familia’ those ones he barely remembered from his Spanish class at the Garrison.

Lance smiled. That particular smile looked better on Pidge, the dark one that made Keith want to call her a Gremlin. Keith wasn’t sure what Lance had said as he had replied in Spanish. The tone was clear though, it was a threat, and Keith nervously reached over and took Lance’s hand.

Lance held that dark smile. The one that said he would murder everyone in that complex just to get his family back. Lance was a family man and he was about to show the Garrison exactly what happened when you messed with his family.

When the picture blipped away, he crumbled. Lance, who had even forced a smile when he first arrived, now had tears streaming down his cheeks. He wiped them away, but more just replaced them so eventually he gave up. He stood beside Keith, crying alone. Even with everyone this close he felt so alone. The Garrison had his family. That was only his mother. He had no idea how his siblings were doing. His brothers were old enough to be enrolled and forced into combat.

Keith hurt. Physically hurt, watching Lance cry. He felt like someone was trying to choke him. Seeing Lance’s shoulders trembling made Keith’s hate of the garrison fester even more. He would kill all of them. He’d watch them burn and he’d be laughing as they screamed.

For now, all he could do was pull Lance into a hug and tell him everything was going to be alright. Keith held onto Lance tightly. He didn’t know what it was like to lose a family, but he knew what it felt like to be alone and Keith had a feeling Lance felt something close to that right now.

“Let’s go sit,” Keith said gently as he led Lance to the far end of the room. It startled him how obediently Lance allowed himself to be led. Keith gently pulled Lance down, having him sit on the floor and lean against the wall.

Lance looked grateful and as soon as Keith was settled beside him Lance curled against his boyfriend’s side.

Shiro and Allura shared a small conversation with Hunk putting in where he thought it was necessary. Allura kept sending worried looks in their direction. Everyone on this ship had some idea of what Lance was feeling, but they were keeping their distance.

Lance was a touchy-feely person. He always seemed to be leaning against or at the very least in close physical proximity to something living. Keith had a sneaking suspicion the mice had taken to sleeping in Lance’s bed some nights. What Lance needed was support not for everyone to keep walking around on egg shells.

“I think I scared them,” Lance hiccupped. “I just got so angry I couldn’t help the voice. I didn’t mean to scare everyone.”

Keith was rubbing slow circles along Lance’s back, “It’s okay. Everyone was just surprised. I don’t think they’re afraid of you.”

Shiro and Allura seemed to come to a decision and Shiro walked toward the two of them. Keith recognized the body language instantly. Shiro was pulling himself in closer in a sad attempt to make himself look smaller.

“Lance,” Shiro’s voice was soft, all the harsh tones of command vanishing. “We’ll find your family. We’ll do our best to get them back.”

“How?” Hunk asked. “They’ll be expecting us now. Can we even sneak in and get his family out? Once we do where will they go?’

“Arius?” Lance asked. He sounded lost and more like he was asking for permission to speak that giving actual ideas. “Arius or the Balmera? Somewhere safe.”

“We’ll get them back,” Keith assured him as the other three came through the doors not too far from where they were sitting. Pidge looked down at them, glared, and continued to where Allura and Hunk were standing. Coran hung back while Ulaz looked over the bridge. The older Altean waited for Shiro to head back to the main group before sliding down the wall beside Lance.

“Lance,” Coran said gently. “If you need to talk, you have us. We might not know exactly what you’re going through, but we’re here for you.”

Lance smiled, it was small and sad, but not forced. “Thanks, Coran.”

Coran patted Lance’s head before jumping up to correct something Pidge had said.

Lance turned to Keith, smile still in place. “You guys are my family too. Sorry about your jacket.”

Keith shook his head, fighting the urge to kiss Lance’s forehead. After all, what would Shiro and Allura think? They kept their relationship in the confines of privacy. Would they scold them for not doing the same? Upon seeing Lance’s face he decided he didn’t care. Keith placed a gentle kiss to Lance’s forehead before speaking. “It’s fine. Are you okay?”

Lance pulled his smile wider. This one was faked, but Keith was willing to let it slide consider the circumstances. “Sure. We’re gonna kick butt, right? I’ll be better then.”

“Lance, what did you say to her?” Keith asked because he was curious and because he couldn’t imagine Lance saying anything to match the tone he had used.

“My mom,” Lance corrected. “But I told her I was going to kill him, put his head on a pike, and parade around the ruins of his palace. Graphic, I know, but it’s a threat my sisters would throw out all the time. I had to let her know I hadn’t forgotten about them. When I ignored her.” He shook his head. “She looked so scared that I didn’t care. Like she thought I wasn’t going to come for her.” Lance looked down at his feet. “I couldn’t do that to her.”

The two of them watched as Allura pulled up a hologram map of the Garrison. Shiro and Pidge were analyzing the map more closely than the others.

“We should join them,” Lance said, pushing himself up before taking Keith’s hand and pulling him up as well.

Keith didn’t let go of Lance’s hand, even as they approached the group. At that moment Keith couldn’t have cared less about what they would think. Lance needed to know he wasn’t alone and he hadn’t tried to pull away so Keith was just going to take that as conformation.

“They’ll have the area surrounded and monitored,” Shiro said, a frown forming on his face. “We won’t be able to bring the castle anywhere near the base.”

“We could land it over here,” Pidge suggested pointing to an area on the holographic map. “We should be far enough away from their monitoring. It’s a bit of a flight so I doubt they’ll actually be expecting us over here. Then we can fly the pods in under stealth mode and get as many people out as possible.

“There have to be some people fighting the Garrison on Earth, right?” Hunk asked. “Maybe we could leave the people with them.”

“Earth’s a hard one,” Shiro sighed. “It would be easier if it were Galra. Then they would be keener to get rid of them. Since it’s people running people we’re going to have a tough time.”

“I have an idea,” Pidge offered. “It’s not an entire plan, but I might be able to rig the cloaking to device to change the way the pods look. Like instead of making them invisible it changes the color or the shape to look like something else. Maybe a police cruiser?”

“Can you do it?” Shiro asked.

Pidge looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’d have to make a few tweaks and I’d need Hunk’s help, but it should be possible.”

Shiro nodded. “Get to work on that. We’ll try to come up with a game plan. Keith and I know the area better than the two of you.”

With that Pidge and Hunk made their way to the hangar while Lance leaned his head on Keith’s shoulder.

“We’ll do what we can, Lance,” Shiro assured him gently. He wished he could give him more, but this was war. Shiro couldn’t do that. He couldn’t give Lance affirmative conformation that they would get his family back. He couldn’t bring himself to do that.

“Thanks, Shiro,” Lance said. He wasn’t back to his cheerful self, but he was doing a bit better. It helped that everyone was willing to go into battle just for his family. He disentangled his hand from Keith’s, forcing a smile in Allura’s direction.

“How long until we get to Earth?” Lance asked.

“We’ll wormhole there as soon as Pidge and Hunk are finished,” Allura replied. She looked at Lance knowingly. He may not have been losing his entire race, but she knew what it felt like to lose family. She felt for him.

“Lance,” Keith said gently as he pushed the boy toward the door. “Why don’t you go back to your room? You need to rest.”

As soon as Lance was gone Keith let his frustrations lose. “This isn’t right! I’m going to kill all of them! I’ll slice Iverson up myself!”

“We know they won’t kill his family,” Allura said, trying to lighten their souring mood.

Shiro looked at his robotic arm. “There are some things worse than death.”

“We’ll save them,” Keith sounded sure of himself. “We have to.”

“We cannot lose sight of our true goal,” Ulaz said. He kept his voice level, he didn’t want to escalate the situation, but their plan needed to be finished. He needed to get them back on track. “We have to defeat Zarkon.”

“That’s Lance’s family!” Keith snapped. “We’re not just leaving them for the Garrison to do what they please with!”

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice was sharp and cut through the red fog forming at the edges of his vision. “Ulaz. Keith is right. We can’t do that. Lance is part of this team and we won’t leave his family there. We understand defeating Zarkon is important, but if we leave this until later Lance will not be fighting to his full potential.”

“And if we wait we might not be able to save them all,” Keith added. “Lance’s family is pretty big, right? He talks about having lots of siblings. To get Lance to show up they only need one of them. They don’t need to keep everyone alive.”

“Keith is right. We’ll attack the Garrison first. Then we’ll go to the Blade of Marmora headquarters. First we have to figure out how they were able to hail us. We can’t have them contacting us again from such a far range,” Shiro said shaking his head. “If they can manage to do that they can probably track us as well. Coran, do you think there’s any way you can figure that out and stop it from happening again?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Coran replied. “Your technology is far less advanced than ours.”

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Keith said. “Even if we can sneak in we don’t know where we’ll find his family.”

“They’ll be in the middle of the trap,” Shiro replied.

“Do we have anyway to find the middle of the trap? And if you say where Lance’s family is I might hit you,” Keith’s voice only trembled slightly in his anger.

“Easy, Keith,” Shiro said placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We’ll get the details figured out. First we need to make sure Hunk and Pidge can get us in.”

 

Lance was ready to burn the Earth as long as his family got out safe, but there were other worlds that needed saving first. Besides, they still didn’t have a guaranteed way to get everyone out. He wasn’t willing to risk both of his families on a possibility of escape. He wasn’t letting anyone risk their lives unless he was sure they could get in and everyone out without losing lives.

So, here they were, saving planets. Rescuing the peoples of said planet, and shooting Galra droids. The usual. Lance felt for all of those who had had family taken from them. Even if his family was in danger, he couldn’t leave these people when he knew he could help. It didn’t feel right.

Lance was screaming while dodging shots that sent acid-like spray at their armor. He could almost see it burning stains in his armor. Man, Hunk was not going to be happy about repairing them after this. One shot sent spray flying onto Lance’s visor and he whined as he shook it away.

“Ew! This looks grosser than Hunk’s barf!” He shouted through his com.

“Thanks for the image, Lance!” Keith shouted back as he sliced through a droid.

“I call it as I see it,” Lance replied with laughter. He may not have been at 100 percent quite yet, but a week was enough time to give him the chance to push away the unpleasant thoughts. He was getting there.

“Lance!” Pidge shouted as something crashed to the ground behind him. He turned just in time to see a Galra soldier crash to the ground with a glowing green rope wrapped around its legs.

Without thought too much thought he shot. It was close enough that even if he had been extremely rushed he could have gotten in a good shot. What he hadn’t expected was the Galra’s helmet to roll away at the last second. Just before the blast hit the Galra’s head Lance could see the look of fear and horror anyone seeing their own death would make.

Those yellow eyes widened and the Galra opened its mouth to speak, but it was too late. The shot was already fired. Lance could only watch as the sharp beam of light went through the Galra’s head leaving behind a sizzling hole.

“Pay attention next time!” Pidge snapped before running off to rejoin the lager fight.

Lance stood frozen. What was wrong with him? Why could he move? It wasn’t like he hadn’t killed Galra before. Just because he’d never seen their faces didn’t mean they hadn’t been alive. This was life or death. He hadn’t had a choice, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. He felt sick. He had done this. He had taken the life of someone who could have had everything to live for. What if he had just taken the life of a person who after this could have found a way to cure space cancer.

He had just taken the life of someone who had a family. Now their body would rot here and no one would ever know what had become of them. They would probably think the Galra was dead, but what if that one person hoped. Hoped against all hope that this Galra would return.

“Lance! Where are you?!” Hunk shouted, just barely pulling Lance out of his daze. “We could use some help.”

“Yeah! Right! Sorry!” Lance replied, startling himself into movement. Though he felt slower. Like his body was no longer his.

He covered his team just as he always did, but every time a body dropped he wondered if all of this could have been prevented. If the fighting like this could have been changed if someone had done one little thing differently.

The castle lights were dimmed when they finally made it back. Pidge and Coran had set the lights up to mimic a day on Earth so it was probably around dusk. Lance made his way numbly to the dining room.

He wasn’t really sure how he should be feeling. On one hand he had survived, on the other he had killed someone today and he felt like there was blood on his hands. There wasn’t, he hadn’t even touched the Galra’s body, but something kept telling him there was. That everyone would look at him differently now. No matter what he did it wouldn’t make up for the lives he had taken.

Keith nudged him while they ate. “Hey. You alright?”

Lance appreciated Keith’s gentle tone, but he didn’t have the heart to talk about it. Not with Keith. He had just gotten Keith’s respect. If he told him something like this he could throw that out the nearest window. Keith was always up close with their enemies and he never had a problem with it. No, there was no way he could tell Keith.

He supposed he could ask Hunk about it. That would be something he could do, right? He and Hunk had similar weapons. Although, Hunk’s didn’t really leave much behind. Hunk was such a big softy he’d have to know how to deal with it.

“Lance, you need to eat something,” Keith said gently. “Don’t make me feed you.”

Lance snorted at the thought. “You? C’mon Keith. I think everyone here knows you’re not really the mothering type. That’s Hunk’s job.” A smirk then appeared on Lance’s face and Keith’s face dropped. “Unless you were thinking about another kind of feeding?”

“Lance!” Pidge screamed launching food at his face while Shiro choked on whatever he’d been eating.

Lance was laughing and Keith was just ready for the seat to swallow him. He wasn’t sure what was worse. Fighting with Lance or being in love with him.

“Sorry, Keith,” Lance said after his laugh subsided. He managed to stomach looking at the food now. The dish practically shined with the love Hunk had put into it and he felt bad for just pushing it around his plate. The first bite Lance had to force himself to eat, but after that it got easier.

Keith rolled his eyes, but otherwise accepted the apology. Lance was eating and that was what mattered to him and Hunk, judging by the smile he was now wearing.

After diner Keith was surprised that Hunk stopped him. “Keith, I know you have trouble talking about emotional stuff, but you need to talk to Lance. Or get him to talk to you. What ever happened today. His head isn’t treating it well.”

Keith nodded. He knew that already. The real problem would be getting Lance to talk. Usually, the opposite was the problem, but Lance looked so out of it today. There wasn’t much he could think of that would get Lance to talk, but he’d try.


	15. Trust

Lance was standing in front of a tall building with dark windows. The building bared down on him with the weight of the world. He knew exactly where he was. This was the Garrison dorm building. He’d only ever seen it from afar, up close, the place was even darker, even sadder.

The alarms were blaring in his ears and he could hear footsteps smashing the ground behind him. He knew, in that building somewhere was his family. He had to be the one to save them. Lance gripped his gun tightly in his hand. It felt heavier now, but he couldn’t take the time to think about that. He had to save his family. They were all in there.

Lance ducked behind a barrel of something as the Garrison soldiers ran past. Lance shook with barely repressed fear. If one of them found him here he’d be dead. They’d shoot him here where he was curled in a ball. No! Lance shook his head. It couldn’t end here. Not like this. It could end years from now, when the Garrison was gone and he and his family had lived long and happy lives.

He waited until the crashing of feet had gone into the distance. They were looking for him, but they wouldn’t find him. At least, that was the plan. Keith and the others were going to keep the Garrison forces distracted so he could sneak in and get his family out.

Lance poked his head out around the barrel, the coast was clear. After taking a breath to steady himself, Lance jumped up and ran toward the door. He slipped in with surprisingly little trouble. If these people were supposed to be the worst then they were not upholding their reputation.

With a smug smile on his face he made his way through the halls, ducking into doorways when he heard people coming by. There was one close call. He hadn’t heard the footsteps until he was on a straight shot hall with no doors. He could feel panic settling in his stomach like a rock, his blood running cold. He couldn’t take this. He just had to go a few more doors. He was almost there, it was down this hall and to the right

At that point, Lance decided it didn’t matter. He was close, too close to be slowed down by some guards. He didn’t care about staying hidden anymore. Lance broke into a run as he turned the corner, shooting the guards that aimed at him. He felt disgusted at the pride that filled him when they hit the ground, lifeless.

Then he shook his head. There was no point in being disgusted. He had killed people and felt powerful about it. It was a feeling he could revel in right now. He would need that to get through the rest of this mission. He could use this feeling to forget about the people behind the guns. They weren’t important anyway. Anyone who stood in his way would die. It was as simple as that.

He blasted his way through the door, kicking it in with little trouble. The room was brightly lit and smelled oddly like bleach mixed with something metallic. Lance’s nose turned at the smell. That wasn’t really his first priority. What was, was getting to his family members who were tied up at the other end of the room.

He saw his mom first. She didn’t look good. There was blood dripping from a cut in her head as well as burn marks covering her arms. He wasn’t sure what they had done to her, but when Lance took a small step forward things got worse. His boots made a squelching sound and he looked down only to see himself in the blood that puddled the floor.

Lance recoiled. There was so much blood, he felt his head spinning. Everything was wrong with this place. What had happened to not only his mother, but the rest of his family as well. His sisters were here, but not his brothers. Where could they be? He could only hope they weren’t fighting somewhere they could be hurt.

He shook his head. Pulling himself together. He could fall apart when everyone wasn’t in immediate danger. Lance walked toward his mother first, slowly untying her and then his sisters. The sight wasn’t pretty, but everything would be better now. It would be okay. Everyone would be back on the castle soon enough and then they could go. They could find a new home. A better one. A better home. That made Lance’s heart lighter than it had been in a while.

Lance was behind everyone, doing his best to cover them from the back. What he hadn’t been expecting were his brothers to show up. Even more than that he hadn’t expected them to start shooting. Too make matters even worse they never shot at him.

He watched as his family fell and he couldn’t do anything to stop them. It didn’t matter how many times he shouted for it to stop, everything just kept moving forward. He pushed forward, shooting his brothers. Even as his younger brother looked up at him, tears in his eyes, begging to be left alone.

Lance’s face was stern, he saw it in the reflection of the metal walls. Then, he looked down at his brother. His hand was steady when he raised his gun. He felt like it should have been shaking, he should have been scared or terrified. Instead he felt nothing. As he shot and watched his brother fall to the ground he still couldn’t bring himself to feel anything.

Then the room went dark. The only thing he was able to see was a Galra. He recognized the face but he couldn’t place it. It didn’t belong to Ulaz and that was the only Galra Lance had ever seen up close. Except…

That was when the room flashed and the Galra was inches away from his face. He could see the sizzling hole in the Galra’s head. It was right between his eyes and the Galra was so close Lance could see bits of brain hanging from where they had fallen. He could see through to the other side of the room through the Galra’s head.

“This is your fault, boy!” The Galra shouted.

 

Keith was just starting to wake up when Lance jolted in his arms. His eyes snapped open and he sat up. If something was happening to Lance he’d be there to defend him. He wouldn’t let someone hurt Lance while he slept. Only, there was no one there. Just him and Lance, squished together on the small bed.

Lance was twitching as he slept. Which, Keith had learned the last time they shared a bed, wasn’t unusual. Keith couldn’t remember the amount of times Lance had kicked him, but this was different. Lance’s eyes were shut tight and his fists kept clenching and unclenching.

“Lance?” Keith asked gently. “You okay?”

The boy in question was shuddering and Keith was having a bit of trouble figuring out if Lance was actually awake.

“Lance?” Keith tried again a bit more loudly. “Lance, wake up!” He hadn’t meant for it to sound like a command, but it was done now and Lance was sitting up.

Lance’s eyes were wide and fearful. Plus, he was having trouble looking at anything for any length of time. It was worrying, this wasn’t like Lance. Something was absolutely, positively wrong and Keith didn’t know how to fix it. He wasn’t good at these emotion things.

“Keith?” Lance asked, voice low and scared.

What could have scared Lance that badly? What could have caused his silly little smile to vanish? It didn’t make sense, surely no nightmare was quite that bad.

“I’m here,” Keith said pulling Lance into a hug. He may not have been good with helping people work through emotional problems, but he could be a shoulder to cry on. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

Lance shook his head, “It’s never going to go away. Is it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keith replied.

“When we were fighting yesterday,” Lance started. He tried to meet Keith’s eyes. He wanted to, but he just didn’t have the strength to force himself to look at someone. “I killed someone. I know it’s stupid, I’ve killed before, but this time it was different. I saw him, Keith. I watched his go from not wanting to die to dead. It my fault.”

That’s why Lance had been so worked up. It made sense, Lance was very rarely up close and personal with their enemies. Lance wasn’t used to seeing their faces when they died. Plus, Lance cared, maybe a little too much, but that was what had drawn Keith to him in the first place.

“He would have killed you,” Keith tried. It was a sad attempt, but at least he was trying. Right? “You didn’t have a choice.”

“I know that!” Lance’s voice rose in frustration. He took a breath and shook his head. He shouldn’t have snapped at Keith like that. “I’m sorry. I know that. It’s just…what if he had a family? What if there were people waiting for him to come home? Now they’ll have to wait for something that will never happen and it’s my fault.”

“You can’t think about it like that,” Keith said gently. “Thinking about them like they’re people, with families makes it that much harder to kill them. You have to see them as simple monsters. You have to make them unimportant, basically convince yourself they’re no longer people.” Keith couldn’t take the look of Lance’s horrified face so tried to shrug it off. “It’s a Garrison technique. They need you to be able to kill whatever and whoever they tell you too. It keeps you sane.”

“They are people, Keith. I can’t just kill people,” Lance pointed out. “No one wants to die.”

“Lance,” Keith tried to sound reasonable, but Lance flinched so it might not have come across quite like that. “We don’t always have a choice. Sometimes, it us or them and I don’t want to lose you.”

“It’s not like I want to die,” Lance corrected quickly. “It’s just hard. I didn’t think it would be this bad. I feel like a murderer. I feel like everyone knows what I’ve done and they’re judging me for everyone I’ve killed. What if I start going crazy? What if I start to like killing?”

“Let’s think logically here for a moment,” Keith said, shifting so he could better see Lance. “Do you really think you’ll suddenly like killing people?”

Lance opened his mouth to respond before thinking better of it and shaking his head. “No.”

“Now that that’s settled,” Keith said, pushing Lance’s hair away from his eyes. “It’s okay to remember them. Do you seriously think Shiro or I have forgotten the people we’ve killed? I’m not going to tell you to forget them, because I know you. You wouldn’t be able to do it. What I want you to do is try not to give them faces when you’re fighting. When you look at them just see them like you see the training bot. Something standing in your way. It doesn’t have a face and it doesn’t have feelings.”

“I’m not sure that’ll work,” Lance was skeptical of that plan. It couldn’t really work like that. Could it?

“I know it sounds odd, but the human brain is easily confused,” Keith explained. “If you tell it something enough times your brain will eventually believe it’s true. Why do you think there are so many idiots in the world?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“I didn’t know I was,” Keith replied with a small smile. “What I said before that is true though. You can convince your brain of almost anything.”

“You learned this at the Garrison?” Lance asked. What were they teaching kids there? Were his brothers going through the same treatment.

Keith changed the subject. He knew if he answered that question honestly, he’d then be asked questions about what was happening to Lance’s family. Those were not things he wanted to talk about with Lance. He couldn’t find it in him to tell Lance exactly what the Garrison would be doing with his family. Maybe he was going soft. Iverson would be disappointed.

“You need to get some sleep,” Keith said, readjusting himself to pull Lance under the covers. “I know how you are with no sleep.”

Lance allowed himself to be tucked against Keith’s side, but once he was comfortable he tried again. “How long were you in the Garrison?”

“As long as I can remember,” Keith replied. “I was given to them, or sold, I’m not sure. It could have been either, but that knife was the only thing I had. We weren’t allowed to have weapons in the school, so I had to keep it hidden. I don’t think Shiro even knew about it. If he did he never told anyone.”

“Shiro went to Kerberos, that’s how he got captured by the Galra right?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, Shiro and Pidge’s brother, Matt and their Dad, Sam. They were the only three sent.” Keith paused for a brief moment. He didn’t particularly want to relive this part of his life, but Lance should probably know about it. “That was when I left the Garrison.”

“You left?” Lance asked. “Just like that? And they let you?”

“Maybe escaped was a better word,” Keith amended. “I got out, ran away. However, you want to look at it doesn’t matter to me. After what I learned I had to get out.”

Lance let a silence hang in the air for a little while before prompting Keith once more. “What did you learn, exactly?”

“Why they were sent to Kerberos in the first place,” Keith replied. “I know Shiro had no idea, but I doubt Sam knew either. Matt wasn’t supposed to be with them, he was a cadet, but Sam pulled some strings and since he was the commanding officer on the mission they let him. So, Matt was switched out for some random technical advisor. Then they shipped off to Kerberos to be handed over to the Galra.”

“What?!” Lance would have sat up if Keith hadn’t been holding him.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that Earth is the only planet not occupied by Galra soldiers?” Keith asked. “It’s because they have a deal. Earth is providing the Galra empire with slaves, scientists, and cannon fodder. Shiro and Matt were set to be slaves while Sam was going to work for them as a scientist. I guess he’d still be a slave though.”

“After I learned that I couldn’t stay,” Keith explained. “I couldn’t willingly fight for them after what I knew. So, I snuck out one night, stole one of the smaller land cruisers and never looked back. I hid out in a little shack in the middle of the desert and then one night I got lucky. There was some energy that was drawing me out and that was when Shiro’s escape pod landed. I saved him and then Hunk and Pidge found their way to us. Probably because Shiro’s return was a spectacle. Somehow, Allura and Coran found us and then we became pirates trying to annoy Zarkon as much as we can. We’ll never be able to defeat him as we are. Maybe if we had that Voltron Allura talks about so much, but even then, I don’t think it would be a guarantee.”

“Do you think he’s unbeatable?” Lance asked as he closed his eyes. He didn’t feel as though his problems were solved, but he was relaxed enough to attempt sleep. If he had another nightmare Keith would be here.

“No,” Keith replied. “Everyone, even ruthless alien dictators, has a weakness. We just have to find it. Maybe this Blade of Marmora can help with that.”

“Ulaz seems to think they can,” Lance mumbled tiredly. “Do you trust him?”

“I don’t know,” Keith said honestly. “But I trust Shiro.”

Lance smiled into his pillow. Keith made it sound as though it were that easy. Just because one person trusted someone didn’t mean the rest of the team could. That being said, Shiro was their leader. If he said they could trust someone they probably could.


	16. Loss

“We’re closing in on Earth!” Coran’s voice shouted over the intercom.

Lance was already sitting in his fighter. He wanted to take off. To fight back. To finally get his family back. It had been too long since that call. Considering this was a magical castle ship he felt they should have been here months ago.  It had to have been four months or something close to that, in reality it had been one and a half.

He gripped the joystick tightly. He wanted to be out there, shooting down the enemy. Not cooped up in the hangar waiting for the doors to open. Lance was tired of this, tired of waiting. He wanted his family back. He just had to know that they were safe and away from the Garrison.

“Hurry up,” he hissed quietly.

“Easy, Lance,” Shiro commanded. “I know you want to find your family, but we need to stick to the plan.”

“We don’t need two Keith’s on this mission,” Pidge retorted through the com.

Keith closed his eyes, ignoring the teasing from the others. So, maybe he was a little hot headed. There was nothing wrong with that. Right now, only Pidge was supposed to be leaving the ship. She was going to see if she could get them updated schematics of the area.

He and Shiro may have known the area when they went to school, but they’d been gone almost three years now. Things were bound to have changed and been upgraded, especially the guard and weapons system.

Keith tapped on the roof of Lance’s small fighter. Clearly, the pirate wasn’t happy about climbing out, but he did so anyway.

“We’ll find them.” Keith assured him. “But you need to be patient. Patience yields focus.”

“I don’t want focus,” Lance said tiredly. His anger never lasted long, always giving in to bleak sadness. “I just want my family.” He looked up at the other pirate, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. “I was supposed to protect them.”

Very rarely did Keith take pity on anyone, though Lance was becoming the exception to that. He loved Lance, and that was a scary thought, but he wanted to be there for Lance and that was much less scary. That he knew how to deal with.

Keith pulled Lance into his arms. He couldn’t do much else with Lance’s paladin armor in the way. He wanted to rub small circles along Lance’s back, but it wouldn’t do any good now.

“Let’s give Pidge a chance to crack this,” Keith said gently.

Lance nodded, he was pleased with waiting, but Keith had a point. If they rushed in now everything could be lost. He balled his hands into fists before allowing Keith to lead him upstairs where the others were waiting.

 

Over the next few days, as Pidge was searching Earth and the Garrison, Ulaz, who until now had been mostly alone, was starting to relearn the way humans interacted among one another. He had been watching them since he’d been on the ship. He could now blatantly see that Lance was worried. It was a worry he understood all too well.

He wanted to get to the blade of Marmora if only to check up on Thace who was still stuck in the Galra headquarters. Sure, Thace knew what he was doing and they all knew the risks. Even more than that they had known it wasn’t wise to attach themselves to those within the order.

They all took on risky missions. If you got too attached and were unable to separate yourself from the situation you could risk everyone’s lives. It was risky to be in a relationship within the order, but even riskier to be in one with someone outside of it. To Ulaz it had been more of a pick your poison and hope no one dies.

Most of the group was on guard around Ulaz. Which really meant everyone except Shiro and Hunk. Honestly, Ulaz had Hunk’s friendship as soon as he complimented the pirate’s cooking and then started giving Hunk the actual names for some of the herbs he’d picked up. Shiro had trusted Ulaz since the beginning and was slowly trying to integrate the Galra to their team.

Coran, Lance, and Keith were less suspicious than Pidge and Allura, but they still kept their distance. Or tried to. Ulaz closed that distance with Lance one day.

The Galra had been watching the red and blue pirates interact. It was clear to him that Keith was in love. It showed in his stance whenever the two of them were close enough to touch. The mix breed never quite touched the human, but he held an open stance with the other boy. The only other one he was that open with was Shiro, but it was a different bond than the one the younger pirates shared.

Lance and Hunk were talking over a game of cards while Keith leaned against the wall, watching from afar. Ulaz just happened to be walking into the living room to witness this and he looked to the two pirates. They clearly had no idea Keith wanted to be a part of their game. He had no doubt that if they knew Keith would be sitting with them. So, Ulaz took it upon himself to explain something to them.

“Hunk, Lance,” Ulaz said quietly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keith stiffen and think about coming toward them so he adjusted his stance, just enough to seem nonthreatening. “Keith would like to play with you.”

Lance snorted. “Yeah, right. Keith doesn’t like these things. He’s never wanted to play cards before.”

Hunk on the other hand was more open to the idea. “How can you tell?”

“He has Galra body language,” Ulaz explained. “It’s loud, if you know what to look for.” He gestured subtly to Keith. “See how he’s standing taller than usual? Right now, he feels threatened. He doesn’t trust me. A moment ago, he was standing with his left foot in front of his right like he was going to join you, but couldn’t. He doesn’t want to intrude on what you have.”

Lance looked over to where Keith was standing. He wasn’t seeing it, but if Keith wanted in all he had to do was say something. He wasn’t going to tell him to leave. He never would have. Well, he would have once, but he wouldn’t do that now. Now they had an understanding.

Lance practically skipped across the room, landing happily in front of Keith. While the two of them talked. Hunk continued to talk with Ulaz.

“Thank you,” He said with a true smile. “Is Keith really that easy to read?”

Ulaz nodded once, “For me, yes, but I understand the ways of the Galra. I can see why it would be hard for any of you to understand. I am just now getting used to human body language and I’ve been here for a few weeks.”

Hunk nodded in understanding. He didn’t have too much trouble reading people, but he knew others struggled with it and it was a lot harder to get a read on species you weren’t used to. When he met new aliens, he could never be sure what kind of read he was getting solely because their cultures and mannerisms were new to him. He could only imagine the same rang true for everyone else.

Lance had Keith by the hand when the two of them joined them. When the three pirates were standing together Ulaz took his leave. He felt better knowing the other two would at least be on the lookout now for Keith’s behavior. As he had been explaining everything he saw Lance taking his words to heart.

Keith was truly lucky to have someone who would trade the world for him. Even luckier to have that person so close. Ulaz knew Thace loved him enough to trade the world for him, the world, but not the blades. Though Ulaz knew that feeling went both ways. He too would give his or Thace’s life to protect their order. It was how it had to be. His thoughts were interrupted by Pidge who was calling for everyone over the main com.

Everyone was gathered on the bridge. Keith was leaning against Lance’s side. Clearly, both of them had skipped right over the awkwardness of showing public displays of affection. The kids stood in a circle while Shiro and Allura explained the plan.

It was simple with very few moving parts, which meant less to go wrong. Not a bad idea, the more moving parts the more likely something was to get in the way and mess everyone up.

“Does that make sense to everyone?” Shiro asked and when everyone nodded he continued. “Good. Everyone to your pods!”

Keith was never more than two steps behind Lance as they made their way to the hangar. When they go to their fighters the two boys looked at each other for a long moment before Lance closed the gap between them and kissed Keith’s cheek.

“Don’t worry,” Lance said with a smile, his hear jumping in his chest. “I’ll watch your back while you’re being reckless.”

Keith quickly climbed into his fighter, a sad attempt to hid the blush creeping across his pale features. Had Lance really kissed him? Was he really blushing over a simple little kiss on the cheek?

Lance, on the other hand, was eagerly waiting for the bay doors to open. This was it, this was his chance to get his family back. Nothing was going to go wrong and in a few hours his family would be safe and he would be back to family hugs. He couldn’t wait! It was going to be great!

There were the usual flashing lights that went along with the opening of the bay doors and all five of the fighters zipped out into the dawn sky. They were a few hours flight away from the Garrison, but that meant they would be there around breakfast when everyone was exhausted from having to be up early. Most of the staff and students would be relaxing over a meal while trying to mentally prepare themselves for the day.

The com was a mix of their usual chatter and silence. When they did talk it was usually about unimportant things, but today, Pidge apparently wanted to have some fun.

“So, Lance, Keith,” Pidge started. “How’s the relationship going?”

“We’re in love Pidge!” Lance replied dreamily. “Have you seen the way his eyes sparkle and how kind he is when he doesn’t think other people are looking. I’m like the princess who had been locked in the tower and he is my prince charming who has come to save me!”

“Lance, I will mute you!” Keith snapped without any actual heat.

“We can do that?” Lance asked.

“Well, not yet, but I might add that at some point,” Pidge replied. “Sorry, I asked. How do you put up with it, Keith?”

Keith chuckled. “He’s not actually that bad.” Then as an afterthought he added. “Usually.”

“Hey! C’mon buddy!” Lance mocked offence, but he was smiling. Honestly, he loved Keith, it made him happy that they had gone from harsh comments to actual couple-like teasing.

The com went silent after that at least until they were close to their positions. Then Shiro chose to speak. It was rare that he stepped into their normal, on the road chatter. Unless they were getting out of hand he was content to sit by silently and listen. They were still teenagers after all.

“Lance, I know this is important to you, but let’s not do anything drastic,” Shiro said in his gentler commander’s voice. That particular voice was the one that earned him the Space Dad nickname.

“I won’t, Shiro,” Lance assured him. “Stick to the plan and we’ll be back on the ship before we know it.” He liked that plan. All he had to do was park his ship and take off near the buildings. Pidge couldn’t be sure which one his family was being held in or if they were even all together, so he and Keith would be on the ground checking the buildings.

They weren’t to split up under any circumstances. Which basically meant Lance wasn’t allowed to leave Keith, because there was no way that boy was going to be paying attention to whether Lance was with him or not. He just got too caught up in fighting to notice anything else that was going on around him.

Lance and Keith were the last two in position. Pidge had given everyone’s pod stealth capabilities so both he and Keith were able to land undetected. Keith knew they still showed up as a blip in the screen, but he hoped they would be too worried about the other three blips circling to bother shooting at the two closer to the ground.

“We’re in position,” Keith radioed in.

“And ready to kick some tail!” Lance added. He was, at least until the three ships above the Garrison started shooting, then he grabbed Keith by the arm. “Keith. What if I have to…”

“Kill someone?” Keith asked, having a feeling he knew where that sentence was going.

Lance nodded, fear filling his features as his thoughts reminded him that he had killed before. That he could revel in it and it would make him stronger.

Keith wrapped Lance in a hug. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be right there. Just remember what we talked about. If you don’t kill them they’ll kill you. I’d rather lose someone I don’t know than someone I love.”

Lance nodded. He understood what Keith was saying, but it still didn’t help. It did a little, knowing Keith would be there always helped, but even as they ducked under the heavy fire the ships were taking on he didn’t want to hurt anyone.

Despite that, he had his gun out while Keith ran a bit ahead with his sword drawn. Lance was okay with following Keith through this maze of buildings. Once they ducked into a middle building they put their weapons away. Keith wore a smug smile as he looked around at all of the spare outfits.

“At least they haven’t changed too much around here,” he said with relief. He walked around the room throwing clothes at Lance. “Here. Put these on. You’re like a size nine? Eight?”

“I thought we were going in guns blazing?” Lance asked, looking doubtfully at the pile of clothes in his arms.

“No point,” Keith replied. “If you want to find your parents, the fastest way to do that is to pretend we fit in.”

Lance nodded as he slipped into the Garrison issued dress. By the time he’d finished struggling with the buttons Keith was dressed in the same thing. Looking at Keith it was hard to imagine the other pirate being completely comfortable in these clothes. They didn’t suit him.

He wasn’t given much time to think about it though. As an explosion echoed through the buildings, adding to the noise of the blaring sirens and announcements Keith practically pulled him into the next building.

“We’ll start here and work our way across the building. We shouldn’t have to fight until we find your family,” Keith assured him. Normally, Keith would have liked to go in guns blazing, but Lance was still getting over his fears so this seemed a much better option, even if it was a bit slower. “We’ll check from the top all the way down,” Keith said, pulling Lance into an empty elevator. In there, everything seemed so peaceful, like the world outside wasn’t actually exploding and people weren’t screaming in pain or fear. It was just him and Keith…and elevator music.

When the doors opened the hall was dark, but soon lit up brightly as the sensors picked up that there was movement. Lance blinked at the brightness, but Keith had been expecting it and moved quickly through the hall checking each and every room. There were four buildings they had to check. One practically at each corner of the area. At least they were only a few floors tall, but it was still a hassle.

 

Shiro pulled his ship up, narrowly avoiding the bean of hot light that shot out from one of the Garrison’s defense buildings.

“I’m activating my armor!” Hunk shouted over the blasting.

“Understood,” came Shiro’s reply.

With Hunk activating his armor it meant his ship would be slower, but he was more defended. That usually made up for it.

“Hunk!” Pidge shouted. “I’ve got fighters on my tail, headed for you!” She said as she spun her fighter into a nose dive. The whole time she was laughing, it was almost a cackling sound that was terrifying over the sounds of their current situation.

“Seriously Pidge?” Lance asked. “You’re laughing?”

“Let her have her fun,” Keith’s voice was heard. “We’re moving onto the next building, how are things looking?”

“Most people are in the air,” Shiro replied. “They haven’t noticed the two of you. Try to keep it that way.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a screaming Hunk. “Pidge! A warning would have been nice!”

“I gave you a warning!” Pidge replied.

“Yeah, but I thought that meant like three!” Hunk replied, he sounded on the verge of panic, but Shiro could see him maneuvering below without problems. “I wasn’t expecting this many!”

“It’s four ships Hunk!” Pidge sounded only slightly annoyed.

“One more ship than expected adds a lot of fire power!” Hunk replied, panicking, but still in control of his situation as Shiro was busy keeping the Garrison’s mounted defenses busy.

“Shiro, hate to disappoint, but I’m thinking our cover has just been blown!” Keith added over the com as sounds of fighting could be heard through both his and Lance’s mics.

“You think that means they’re in here?” Lance asked.

“Lance!” Keith snapped. “Focus!”

Shiro couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes. Even in the middle of fighting for their lives those two couldn’t stop acting like a couple. It really was like they were meant for each other.

 

Lance rolled under a shot to tuck himself in the safety of a corner. His heart was beating so fast it hurt, he thought it was going to explode. He could see Keith in front of him, he could see Keith’s mouth moving, he knew the other was trying to talk, but Lance just couldn’t hear the words. It was like those silent films or those scenes in the movies where the protagonist had just had a bullet zip past their ear and the world is ringing so loudly they can’t focus. Except his ears weren’t ringing, everything was just so loud he couldn’t pick out a sound.

Keith knelt before him, growing frustrated. “Lance! I said will you be okay?”

“Is something wrong? Is Lance hit?” Hunk’s worried voice came over the com.

“Calm down, big guy,” Lance replied. “I’m fine.” Then he looked up at Keith. “Sorry about that. I’m good now.”

Keith nodded, pulling Lance to his feet. “Your family should be right down this hall.” With that the two of them took off at a run.

Lance felt a bit out of place. After those two waves of guards, which had only been about ten, he was concerned by the silence. Keith smiled, fights made him feel alive, and this one made him feel even better. They were going to get Lance’s family back. Lance would be able to enjoy life again, be happier.

He saw it, at the end of the hall. It looked like a normal door save for the odd lock on it.

“Sharp Shooter,” Keith said, instantly grabbing Lance’s attention. It took the other pirate not even half a second to realize what he needed.

When the lock fell off, thanks to Lance’s superior shooting skills he had no trouble bragging. “There you go, Samurai.”

“Seriously!” Pidge shouted. “We’re avoiding heavy fire and you guys are flirting?!”

“Aww,” Lance teased as Keith pushed open the door. “Do you want a nick—“ As soon as he saw what was behind the door his heart stopped. They’d been too late. He could see his family, each and every one of them hanging by the wrists. The blood that stained the floor, their bodies, and the wall behind them was dried and the room smelled oddly sweet.

“Mama! Papa!” Lance shouted as he darted into the room, tears filling his vision. “Matias! Mateo! Samuel!”

Keith saw the pain in Lance’s face, he could hear it in the blue pirate’s voice. This wasn’t fair to him! It shouldn’t be happening and yet here they were. All of them faced with the death of Lance’s family.

“Keith! Report!” Shiro snapped over the com. “Lance’s family…they didn’t make it.”

Keith gently took Lance’s hand. “We have to go.”

“I can’t leave them!” Lance snapped. He immediately felt his heart drop when Keith flinched. It was a slight movement, but he noticed it.

Keith was startled. He knew Lance cared about his family, but they were dead. They had to go. All of this had been a trap. Which they knew, but they had expected to find them alive, what was the point of having dead people serve as bait? What had been their real goal?

“Everyone! You need to get out of there!” Ulaz shouted over the coms.

“There’s a Galra ship approaching Earth!” Allura added, she sounded as though she was glaring at Ulaz.

“Everyone pull out!” Shiro commanded, snapping Lance out of his emotional turmoil.

Keith took Lance by the arm and began leading him out of the building as he stripped off his garrison disguise to reveal the armor underneath. He could see Lance doing the same thing, but more mechanically. There was nothing left for Lance. All of his hopes had been crushed and some of his worst fears realized.

“Keith, Lance, get to your fighters!” Shiro’s voice was loud enough to have them both wincing. “We need to go. Now!”

The two boys looked at each other before racing to their pods. Keith shoving Lance in front of him when he saw the Galra ships landing. His only thought at that moment was protecting Lance. The boy had been through enough today. He didn’t need to add killing people to that list.

“Lance! Get into the fighter!” Keith demanded, shoving the taller pirate toward the ship.

Lance didn’t hesitate, he knew Keith would be right behind him. He didn’t bother looking back until he was in the fighter waiting. That was when he saw Keith, by himself, surrounded by the Galra soldiers. He was fighting fiercely, but he wasn’t going to make it.

“Lance, where are you?!” Pidge snapped as her fighter spiraled. “I’ve been hit!”

“Pidge! Keith’s stuck! I have to save him!” Lance said. His mind was reeling. What could he do? There was no way he was skilled enough to shoot at them without hitting Keith. Just as he was about to kick it into gear he saw Keith tackled by the soldiers.

“Lance! Get Pidge and go!” Keith shouted breathlessly. He was still obviously trying to fight off the soldiers, but there was no hope. He was down and there were too many of them.

“I’ll come back for you!” Lance promised as he forced the fighter into its fastest setting. He didn’t want to do this. Leave Keith? To fend for himself? It just tore the hole in his heart further. Keith would be killed or taken as a slave, but Keith wouldn’t make a good salve. They’d either kill him now or later.

When he picked Pidge up she was clearly angry with him for taking so long, but she was at least quick enough to know this wasn’t the time.

“Keith?” She asked quietly and when Lance only shook his head she sighed. Their trip back to the castle was quiet, though Hunk did try to strike up a conversation once or twice.

When they got back everyone was quieter than usual, especially Lance. No one blamed him for that. In only a few minutes he had lost both his boyfriend and his family. His world was falling apart.

“We have to get Keith back,” Lance’s voice was nearly a growl. He’s lost too much today, he refused to lose anything else. They were getting Keith back and they were getting him back alive.

“We will Lance,” Shiro replied.

“We should look for the Blade of Marmora,” Ulaz said. At the angry faces he received, he quickly added why. “The Blade of Marmora headquarters has blue prints for Zarkon’s castle. We can use them to find Keith and take him out at the same time.”

Lance wanted to both strangle the Galra and jump at the opportunity to save Keith, but he was too angry and too tired of being angry.

“Why should we listen to you?” Allura snapped. “You’re the one who told the Galra where we’d be! We should send you out of the air lock as you are.”

“It wasn’t him,” Lance said quietly. As much as he would love someone to blame he knew there wasn’t one singular person in these situations. Even if there was, he couldn’t let an innocent bystander take the fall. “Keith figured out the Galra and the Garrison were working together. The Garrison was sending people to Kerberos for the Galra to pick up, that’s how Shiro, Matt, and Sam ended up in Galra clutches. It’s why Keith left the Garrison, he didn’t want that to be him. Now it doesn’t matter. He’s still going to be a slave. He’s going to be tortured just like my family.”

“Lance,” Hunk’s voice was gentle as he placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Let’s go get something to eat. A good meal always makes me feel better.”

“I’m not hungry,” Lance replied, but allowed himself to be wheeled away in the direction of the kitchen.

The others stood on the bridge and watched them go. Allura was the first to break the silence.

“We’ll go to the Blade of Marmora and then we’ll rescue Keith.” She said. Having said the plan aloud felt better than dancing around it. Now that they all had something of an itinerary they would be able to push their fears away and focus. Hopefully.


	17. The Half-Breed

Keith was hurting in places he didn’t think could actually hurt. His head was pounding and he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes. It wasn’t like the cold floor against his cheek wasn’t a good indicator of where he was. Plus, it seemed to make his body numb to the injuries, at least until he tried to move. He allowed his brain to replay the situation.

He’d seen the Galra forces coming for them. He wasn’t sure what came over him, pushing Lance forward like that. No. That was a lie. Keith knew exactly why he did it. He would have rather risked his own life than both of theirs. Lance had just lost everything, he couldn’t be counted on to keep his head straight.

Straight, even in a situation like this it made Keith’s lips twitch in a smile. Lance was probably the furthest thing from straight Keith had ever seen.

Then he remembered Lance’s fearful face when Keith had pushed him. He had to get Lance out of there. Never before had Keith been truly fearful of what would happen if the world lost someone, but when he looked at Lance in that moment that’s all that entered his mind. What would happen if the Galra were to get ahold of Lance? What if they did the same thing to Lance that they had to Shiro?

Lance would have survived, that wasn’t the question. Lance was strong enough to get through anything. The question was, how would Lance turn out? What would being at the mercy of the Galra do to him? Shiro hadn’t come out of that experience completely intact and, not to dis Lance, but Shiro was much stronger.

Keith forced his eyes open, groaning at the amount of strength such a simple action took. It was time to take stock of his situation. As much as he wanted to pretend he was back at the castle that wasn’t an option. He had to find a way out of here.

The black-haired boy was barely able to force himself into a sitting position. He didn’t remember being thrown into the cell, or being transported from the ship. He barely remembered fighting off the Galra back on Earth. He was pretty sure he’d been close to blackout anger at that point anyway.

Okay, Keith, focus. He told himself as he closed his eyes. He was no longer in his Paladin Armor which was a terrifying thought on its own. He was unprotected, the armor and his Bayard gone.

The cell was barren. He was used to hearing people say cells were barren, but the ones at the Garrison at least had chains or something. This one was literally barren. There was a bench at the very back made out of the same metal as the rest of the small block, but that was all.

Keith shook his head slowly, trying to ignore the sharp pain it sent through his core. So, he was hurting and badly bruised. There was something wrong with his ribs, they weren’t broken, but they hurt like hell. At least he could move.

He grabbed the bench and pulled himself to his feet. It took longer than he liked for him to hobble around the cell. There wasn’t a single lose panel or anything he could think of using to escape. His small knife had been taken as well and he wasn’t sure what to do other than sit with his face in his hands.

Keith’s nerves frayed more and more the longer he sat, but he didn’t have a choice. No matter how badly he wanted to pace around the cell he had to stay still. If he conserved his strength now maybe he could break out. He just had to wait to catch who ever came for him off guard.

He couldn’t be sure how long he sat there. It was throwing him off, he wasn’t used to not knowing the time. It made him both grateful and nervous. He wanted to know how long he’d been away from his team. How were they doing? Were they attacking Ulaz? Allura probably was. He hoped she hadn’t learned he was Galra. That wasn’t something he wanted her to learn. Keith couldn’t imagine what that would be like and the longer he stayed here the more likely that became.

Despite being lost in thought his ears were attuned to the world around him. As soon as he heard the footsteps approaching his cell he began paying attention. He didn’t move, didn’t show any outward signs of knowing someone was there. That being said his purple eyes watched from under his lashes. He simply couldn’t risk being uniformed.

The Galra who stood before his cell wore the armor of a high-ranking officer. The Galra had thin pointed ears with almost hit streaks through them. They weren’t as odd as Ulaz’s these ones looked Galra, they were furred, though not quite fluffy.

The Galra officer looked down his nose at Keith. He was sneering and Keith had to resist the strong urge to slam his fist against the cell bars. It wouldn’t do him any good. The Galra was trying to intimidate him, it wanted him to react and Keith refused to play their game. Instead he raised his head, staring the Galra in the eyes with confidence. It didn’t matter that the confidence was faked, not to Keith, all he needed them to know was that he wasn’t finished. He was going to be a thorn in their side until they killed him.

Which brought up another question, why hadn’t they? What was so important about keeping him alive? He knew they could have killed him back when they were on Earth, what was special enough about him that they had let him live? Whatever it was, it clearly didn’t make him any better than the average prisoner.

The officer looked as though he was about to speak when a figure seemed to appear out of nowhere. This Galra, at least, Keith assumed it was a Galra, wore a long cloak with the cowl pulled up so all of their features were hidden. This one scared him.

He hadn’t heard it approaching and while the other Galra didn’t seem pleased by its presence, only just barely tolerating it.

“Can I help you?” the officer asked.

“Commander Thace, Haggar wishes to,” there was a long uncomfortable pause where Keith knew whatever creepy eyes that creature had were on him. “See the half breed.”

Keith tensed, feeling his blood run cold. He was pretty sure his heart even stopped for half a beat. That’s why he was still here. Someone had figured out he was half Galra, but why did that matter? He forced himself to relax in a sad effort to prevent his limbs from shaking. He knew they were trembling slightly, but he wasn’t sure if it was from fear or the want to hit something. Could he really have been that stupid? Letting himself be caught by the Galra? Now who knew what they were going to do to him.

Thace nodded once before turning on his heel. Then he stopped and added, over his shoulder, “Please, kindly suggest that Haggar not kill him. He could be of use to us.”

Keith glared in the direction of Thace’s retreating footsteps. He’d never help them, and there was no way anyone was dumb enough to rescue him. Keith wasn’t going to be useful, but as long as they kept thinking he was he would be kept alive. All he needed was a way out.

 

“Your friend has been captured,” Kolivan’s face was hard to read, but Ulaz stood firmly at Shiro’s side, unfazed.

“Can you help us get to him?” Lance asked, he stepped to Shiro’s other side, almost pushing his way between Shiro and Allura.

Kolivan looked between Antok and Lance. Kolivan knew Antok, they had started this group together, so he knew exactly what Antok was thinking. Antok was wondering what it would be like if they were in that situation. What if it had been them? What if he were the one going to the pirates for help? The blue pirate was clearly worried about his companion. There was nothing they could do on this side of Zarkon’s ship, but Thace was still there. They could contact him and have him keep an eye on their companion.

Shiro glanced toward Lance in surprise. It wasn’t like Lance to jump into a conversation in this way. Shiro, however, was willing to let it slide because he understood Lance was worried. They all were. Keith was part of their little family and it wasn’t the same without him.

“We will contact Thace. He will look after your companion,” Kolivan agreed. “But we will only allow your leaders to have access to the base under supervision. The rest of you will be taken to your rooms.”

The three pirates, plus Coran were escorted to a separate part of the base where they were politely tossed into a large room with multiple doors. The room was sparsely decorated with a small couch and a few chairs. Lance took a seat on the couch, not having the energy to even throw his leg over the back.

Hunk sat beside him while Pidge climbed onto the back of the couch, perched there like a cat. She looked down at them sadly.

Hunk didn’t really understand what Lance was going through. He knew what it was like to leave your family for their own safety, but losing everything like that. He could imagine what it was like and he could offer comfort, but it wasn’t always enough.

Lance would have to work through this one on his own. Though, Pidge had told him she’d be there she had a feeling he wouldn’t come to her.

“Lance?” She tried, not expecting much.

“I know, I shouldn’t have spoken up like that,” Lance replied. “Things were just going so slow. They invited us here, I don’t understand why they wanted us to be here if they’re just going to hold everyone up. I guess I kind of get it. They’re worried about what we might do to their base.”

Pidge was almost offended. Did he really think after all of that she was going to scold him? She shook her head, but Hunk took over the talking before she could get to it.

The bigger boy pulled Lance into his side. “It’s going to be alright. Keith’s a though kid. He can take whatever those Galra guys throw at him.”

Pidge nodded from behind them. “He can. That training bot is way stronger than any of those Galra and he can take that on.” It was a lie. She knew it was, but Lance actually managed to smile so she was proud of herself.

Then again, Pidge was pretty sure they all knew these were lies. There was no way of knowing if Keith would be okay, but they had to believe. It was the belief that they would get Keith back in one piece, belief that kept them all going. She wasn’t sure if Lance could take another hit like that and then there was Shiro to worry about.

Shiro was off. Like, more off than usual. With Keith missing it was like a huge piece of their family was missing and it left a gap in everyone’s heart. As odd as it was to admit, Pidge actually missed Keith’s midnight training. He would sometimes let her test new upgrades to the maze or the bots while he trained. She also missed the random times he would come into her lab and ask her to explain something to him.

Hunk was also feeling the hit of someone missing. It was the little things that hurt him the most. He would make up an extra plate at dinner only to have to scrape the food back into the main dish because there were no longer seven mouths to feed. Or when he would make the little snacks he knew Keith liked after training then he’d have to eat them himself because he couldn’t bring himself to take those out to anyone else.

Lance leaned against Hunk’s side with his eyes closed. “I’m going to get Keith back alive. I have to.”

 

Keith’s throat was raw from screaming when the electricity finally stopped burning through his veins. Everything hurt more than it had when he first woke up. He hadn’t thought it could get worse. His vision was blurred no matter how many times he blinked. He didn’t know what they were they were doing to him, he only knew it was changing him.

He hoped they weren’t cutting off his limbs and replacing them. It was Shiro’s look, not his own. He didn’t want to have to relearn how to walk or use a sword. He shuddered when one of the Galra leaned over him. For the first time since he’d been through this he could see himself in the reflection of what ever eye gear they wore.

He knew it was him. There was no other person it could be, but it didn’t look like him. His eyes were yellow and his skin was giving off a lilac tint. Even his hair was different, darker with indigo streaks reflecting in the light. He was almost certain he could also see the beginning of those fluffy Galra ears poking out.

What were they doing to him? He was terrified, no, petrified. That was a better choice of words. He was finding it hard to move or even breathe. They were turning him into one of them. Which wasn’t exactly fair, considering he’d been partially Galra this entire time. That didn’t mean he wanted to look like one of them.

Even worse, what would happen if he got out? There was no way they would believe it was him. Shiro would be too afraid to even look at him and Lance. What would Lance do? That thought scared him more than anything else.

Lance would hate him. Or at the very least be afraid of him. He didn’t think he could take that. He would have much rather traded this for a metal limb. He wanted to take back everything. A metal limb wouldn’t be nearly as bad in comparison.

Then there was someone undoing his restraints and catching him before he could fall. Keith didn’t have the strength to look at which Galra was carrying him. He didn’t even have the strength to keep his feet moving. For the most part, they dragged along behind him.

“Your friends are coming for you,” Thace said as he practically carried Keith. “I don’t know when, but when they get here go to the trophy room. It’s straight up the stairs, turn right, then go to the end of the hall. You’ll know it once you’re in there.”

Keith barely had the strength to nod, but he had so many questions. How had they known where to find him? Ulaz, probably. What about Thace? Did that mean Thace was in the same order as Ulaz? Did that mean Thace knew something about his blade? He wanted to ask, the questions were practically begging to be voiced, but he couldn’t find the strength. Even before they made it to the cell he was on his knees screaming in agony.

Everything hurt, all he could see was white. White and red, maybe some black? It was all so confusing. He didn’t understand where the pain had come from. It had just suddenly appeared and made the world that much harder to understand.

He had his fingers buried in his hear trying to rip into his skull. He just wanted the pain to be gone. In his delirious state, he hoped maybe ripping into his head and pulling out the part that hurt or the part that was causing him pain would help. Later he wouldn’t be sure why he thought that, but in the moment, it seemed like a good idea.

Then he felt large, fluffy ears brush against his hands. This wasn’t good! This wasn’t good! The mantra of screaming continued to swirl around his head repeated over and over and over again. Then something touched his leg. It was gentle, but odd and it felt almost like a spider crawling over him. He tried to jump, to escape, but only managed to fall flat on his face, feet not wanting to cooperate.

When he fell that thing touched him again, but it was different this time. He looked over his shoulder to see he had a tail. He hadn’t been expecting that, he’d never seen a Galra with a tail before. It was light purple with swirls of white fur and little tufts of long black fur sprouting from the tip.

Thace waited patiently for Keith to gather his bearings once more. The young half-breed was bound to be hurt and confused. Thace wasn’t known for being coldhearted among the blades. He and Antok were probably the softer of the two and it hurt watching Keith writhe on the ground the way he was.

He wanted to help, but should someone walk by and see he would be in much more trouble than it was worth. Still, that didn’t stop him from feeling disappointed in himself. Once he had joined this war believing Zarkon’s plan would bring peace. He joined the Blades in hopes of bringing that peace he still sought after. Keith, and the other pirates who were on their way were that hope. They were the ones who were going to bring about peace.

Once Keith’s breathing had returned to normal Thace pulled him to his feet. He had to get the half breed back into his cell before anything else happened. If he wasted any more time someone was bound to raise questions. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to be rude or push the boy too far. He was broken, scared, and alone. Never a good combination, especially if one was trying to stay alive.

“Steady yourself,” Thace’s voice was low, but gentle as he led Keith along. When they arrived at their destination he pushed Keith into the cell. Not roughly, but with just enough force to unbalance Keith, causing him to stumble forward.

Keith curled up in the corner of his cell, pretending his head wasn’t pounding and trying his hardest to hide from himself. He didn’t want to see the darkening purple color of his skin or the lengthening of his nails. Most of all, he really didn’t want to see the tail that was curled around him or feel the sharpened canines in his mouth. Of all the ways for him to go it would be in a cell, looking like a Galra.

No one would find his body, they’d just over look him and that thought hurt the most. Not even Shiro would notice. Shiro, the man who had become his brother. He would take one look at Keith’s dead body and tell everyone to continue. That’s what hurt the most. More than the thumping of his head, more than the tingling of his tail when he forgot it was there and sat on it, even more than the fluffy ears growing out of his head. What hurt more than all of that was the hole in his heart that was growing every minute he stayed trapped in that cell.


	18. Won't Let You Down

Lance was livid, pacing around the main area of the base. The Blades of Marmora, or more appropriately, Kolivan finally trusted them enough to allow them access to most communal areas. There were still a few places they were expected not to go, but Lance could respect that they were being trusted more and more. What he couldn’t respect was how long they were being forced to wait.

“Lance, calm down,” Shiro pulled out the ‘exasperated dad’ voice. Which normally would have at least gotten Lance to sit, but today it seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Calm down!?” Lance nearly screamed. “You want me to calm down? Am I the only one who remembers why we’re here? Does anyone else remember there used to be seven of us? Or does it only take two weeks for everyone to just forget about your team mate, your family!?”

Everything was deathly silent with Lance, inches away from Shiro’s face, breathing heavily and Shiro staring back, doing his best to hold down his own anger.

Shiro’s eyes closed tightly, chanting his mantra in his head. ‘Patience yields focus.’ He had said that so many times to Keith, but every time the words rang true. Once he had regained his composure, he sighed. “Lance, no one has forgotten about Keith.”

“You could have fooled me!” Lance snapped, but there was a sharp exchange of looks that followed. Pidge and Allura could barely follow them, but Coran saw them all.

Lance had started out angry, but when Shiro’s patient—almost calm—face turned to one that could rival Keith’s in fire Lance backed down. Only then did Shiro continue. Though his tone was softer, having made his point.

“Lance, we have to be patient,” Shiro said gently. “We can’t go in guns blazing and risk something happening to Keith. This has to be planned and thought out thoroughly.” He placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I know waiting is frustrating, but right now there isn’t much more we can do.”

“Dudes!” Hunk said, nearly skipping in, either blissfully unaware of the lingering hostility or because of it. He offered the food on the tray he’d been holding. What was sitting there looked like pigs in a blanket. “These Galra guys could really use some cooking lessons.”

“Maybe you should teach them, big guy,” Lance was only half joking, though Hunk seemed to be taking him completely seriously.

“That’s not a bad idea, but later,” Hunk sat the tray on the table between them all. He waved his hand overdramatically. “Eat.”

Pidge barely looked up from where she was hunched over her laptop in the corner of the room. Lance looked at the food and instantly his stomach churned. Allura was the first to take something, then Coran. The humans were all too stressed and caught up in their own thoughts to eat.

Lance looked over the room. Everyone was silent and sad, he was failing. He had nominated himself for one thing it was putting smiles on everyone’s faces. It was his job, no matter what the team was going through and he had been failing. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to smile widely. He didn’t want to, but right now, that didn’t matter.

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” Lance said quietly. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

Shiro offered the boy a small, paternal smile. “You’re forgiven. Try to remember you aren’t the only one who’s stressed and worried.”

Lance nodded allowing a small smile to spread across his features. “I will. Thank you.”

 

Keith had slowly been getting used to his new features. He no longer stepped on his tail when he walked or bit his tongue when he ate, however infrequently that was.

Since his transformation only Thace had come by to visit him. Even then, the general usually paid him no mind. Keith understood why. It would be bad for Thace if he were caught speaking to the prisoners. Especially, if he was part of the same order as Ulaz. Knowing why, however, didn’t make him any less bitter about it.

Keith was pretty sure Thace was only walking by to assure himself that Keith was still alive. Keith really wished he had a way out of this place, but he was in space. Alone. He couldn’t make his way to an escape pod and then find the castle. He wasn’t Pidge. So, he was stuck here, waiting. He didn’t like waiting, but more than that, he didn’t like being stuck.

It made him anxious, which meant he got snappy. Not necessarily the best thing while you were trapped in a prison surrounded by Galra guards who would rather kill you than feed you. Keith was finding himself picturing Lance.

What was he doing now? What was the rest of their little group doing? It didn’t make sense to him. He wasn’t the kind of person to want to be taken care of, but he found himself wishing Lance were here. He didn’t want Lance to be in this situation, but it would have been nice to be held. To be told that he was loved no matter what he looked like.

Keith looked down at the tail resting on his feet. What he looked like. He was a Galra now, he actually looked like one of them. There would be no hiding that from anyone. If they didn’t know already they would if they ever figured out it was him. What would Lance do when—if—they found him? Would Lance throw his arms around him or would he be too scared to get close? What if Lance was afraid of him? What would he do then? If Lance rejected him?

Those thoughts hurt worse than Keith would have liked. Part of him wanted to go back to the loner mentality Pidge liked to tease him for. He still held on to bits and pieces of it, but Lance had broken down those walls. Or at the very least chipped away at the supports long enough for them to start crumbling and there was no way he could rebuild it now.

Lance was special. Keith let very few people into his life. Shiro and Lance being the two that came to mind first. That wasn’t to say he didn’t care about the rest of his team, but they were the ones who understood Keith on a different level. Lance was so kind and easy to open up to. When they first met it had been a struggle to keep his lips sealed. Lance gave off an air of ‘I will protect you’ and Keith couldn’t help but find himself drawn to it.

Back at the Garrison it was one of the first things he noticed about Shiro. It was also what made Shiro such a good leader. He seemed to always be open to new things and, while he often found them ridiculous when those new ideas came from his young crew, if it was possible he was willing to give their ideas a shot.

If Lance could become slightly more serious in most situations Keith had no doubt he’d make a good leader. One day. Not today, and hopefully not any time soon. Keith couldn’t imagine their little ragtag group being led by Lance. It would, at the very least, be an interesting sight.

Keith shivered. His cell seemed to be progressively colder as the days went by. He only hoped it was these newly activated Galra genes and not him getting sick. Thace had said his team was coming for him. He couldn’t jeopardize their mission by coming down with something.

He curled up into himself, groaning, as he tried to keep what little heat he could in his body or at least the surrounding area. Nothing seemed to help, but after a while he managed to keep his eyes closed for more than thirty seconds and exhaustion took over from there.

Keith didn’t usually dream. It wasn’t anything special, but he attributed it to the miniscule amounts of sleep they got at the Garrison. Their bodies learned they didn’t have the extra energy or will to create elaborate dreams. Keith wasn’t used to dreaming, but on top of that. He really wasn’t used to nightmares.

Many would think being in a Galra prison would be a living nightmare. That nothing could compare to that, but Shiro and Keith would disagree. Whatever your circumstances, your brain will find a way to make everything ten times worse.

For Keith, everything had gone dark. He couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face as he moved. At least, he thought he was moving. It was hard to tell, it was so dark that everything looked the same. He had to keep a hand outstretched in front of him for fear of running into a wall or something worse.

He couldn’t be sure how long he walked. In a world of darkness time didn’t have a meaning anymore. There wasn’t even a point to knowing days to weeks or even months. Then he saw it. A light, flickering weakly in the distance. A small, tiny voice in the back of his head told him to run. That light meant safety and he would need that soon.

Keith was not one to reason with any split-second decisions so he wasted no time stepping into the weak, barely consistent circle of light. Once he was there, despite feeling better he felt weaker. He was defenseless against whatever was hidden in the darkness.

“Keith!” Lance’s voice called from the darkness. It was blurred by the sounds of alarms and fighting. “Keith! Where are you?”

Keith tried to call out but his voice was stuck in his throat. What would Lance do when he saw him? He didn’t look the same anymore. Would Lance even know who he was? Keith shook his head. Of course, he would! It was Lance.

“Lance! Lance, I’m over here!” Keith called. He wasn’t sure what was raising his heart rate, but he was becoming more and more anxious. He could feel it in the chills that ran along his spine and the churning in the pit of is stomach.

Almost before Keith could register what was happening Lance was sharing the slightly larger pool of light that had stopped flickering. This close Keith could see the frown lines creasing Lance’s forehead. Keith wanted to hug him, to kiss Lance, to stay at his side forever, but then there was a gun. Or more accurately, the blue Bayard sitting steady and level with Keith’s chest.

“Not another step, Galra,” Lance growled.

That was a sound Keith rarely heard from Lance. He was usually so casual and upbeat. To hear him actually growling, in a low, threatening voice. It scared Keith more than anything else. He could hear the high-pitched whine of Lance’s gun charging up to release a beam of light. One that would end Keith’s life.

 

“We’re going?” Lance asked, nearly tripping and falling in his effort to scramble out of the chair.

Hunk and Pidge had apparently already been told because those two were nowhere to be seen. Lance had a feeling they were changing the settings in the pods to make them look like Galra fighters.

Shiro helped Lance steady himself, holding the boy’s arm firmly. “Lance. I know you want to get Keith back, but this mission is bigger than any one person. We have our chance to defeat Zarkon. I won’t lie. We might not make it back.”

Lance shrugged, feigning indifference. “So, it’s about the same as our usual outings.”

Shiro patted Lance’s shoulder before allowing the boy to take off toward the pods. This was going to be more dangerous than Shiro wanted. Taking his entire team in to Zarkon’s ship was not his best call as a leader, but sometimes someone had to make the tough decisions. That someone was usually him.

 

Hunk was in the garage with Pidge, tinkering with some random wires as he talked to Shay over their video chat device. She, for her part, was wandering about the surface of the Balmera.

“You will be careful?” Shay asked. “Zarkon is not a forgiving enemy.”

“We’ll be as careful as we can,” Hunk replied before giving her a smile. “Don’t worry, Shay. When all this is over I’ll take you into the sky. Maybe we can visit Earth once everything has calmed down.”

“Earth will never calm down,” Pidge retorted from across the room.

Hunk merely shook his head before returning to the wires. “How’s the Balmera doing?”

“Our Balmera is recovering,” Shay replied. “It has been giving us better and more beautiful crystals than ever before.”

Hunk was nodding to indicate he was in fact listening. He placed everything back on the desk when the door slid open. He looked up to see a barely contained Lance rush in.

“When are we leaving?” Lance asked. He didn’t want to say it, but they needed to get Keith out of there. The longer he was in there the higher their chances were of finding him like they’d found Lance’s family. No one wanted to think about that and Lance wasn’t going to remind them.

“Just a few more tics,” Hunk replied. “We’re adding the finishing touches on now.”

Lance lounged around and chatted with Shay until they were done. He liked her and he was glad Hunk had found someone for him. Shay was a wonderful girl and honestly, her and Hunk were the cutest couple he’d ever seen. It only got cuter when the two of them were together in person, but they hadn’t had much time for that.

Maybe after this. Maybe after everyone could go where they wanted. Do, what they wanted. Hunk could stay with Shay and he and Keith. Well, Lance figured they’d just be pirates for the rest of their lives and raise their little, adopted pirate children.

It was not a ‘few more tics’ until Hunk had finished, but Lance was willing to let that slide when he sat behind the stick of his pod. It looked exactly like a Galra fighter on the outside, but inside it was still his wonderful little space. Lance loved his little pod. It had become like a second home to him since he’d been out here in the void of space.

As they flew Lance was itching to fly ahead of the group. He wanted to get to Keith now, but he knew better. If he broke formation, if something even slightly off happened their entire plan could fail. They could all be captured or killed.

Allura was kind enough to open a wormhole for them to pass through, which meant instead of their flying time being months it became minutes. Those first few minutes were the most stressful. Those were the ones where they had to get in position without being seen by patrolling ships and bots. The next most agonizing minutes were the ones of waiting.

They were waiting for a fleet of fighters that had been sent out a few days ago to come back. The pirates would then sneak aboard the ship when it opened its bay doors for the fighters. Once they were on they would wait for the hangar to be empty before exiting their ships. Once they were in the main ship they would be free to go wherever they needed to.

Of course nothing ever went according to plan.


	19. The Lions

The four of them, Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance, were flying into the main Galra ship. This was Zarkon’s ship and Lance could feel his palms getting damp. His mouth was dry and he was finding it hard to swallow. He was so close, but so far. There was still so much they had to go through.

Their coms were silent, in an effort to remain safe, but that meant Lance couldn’t pick out the difference between the ships his friends were in and the Galra ships. He supposed that was a good thing, it meant Pidge’s cloaking screen worked and they would be hidden. Lance’s brain instantly went to look at the pattern of the loading of the pods.

Once he figured it out he placed his fighter in its designated spot. Then he waited. This was his least favorite part of sneaking around. The waiting that frayed his nerves and made him feel like he was going to get caught. His heart was thumping in his chest as he watched the Galra Bots walk toward the main ship. He wanted to be out there, running through the halls. Lance wanted to be out there where he had more space to maneuver if something went wrong. He had no room in this pod to navigate should someone get in.

That’s when he felt it, the walls of the pod closing in on him. He wasn’t usually bothered by small areas, but something was wrong today. He wasn’t completely in control of his thoughts and he felt his heart rate spike. His breathing sped up. It felt like the walls were closing in on him. They wanted to crush him, to make sure he would never leave.

“Lance!” Hunk’s voice cut through the silence of the com. “Lance! Can you hear me?”

Lance’s mind snapped back like a rubber band and he jumped at the sudden noise. “Hunk! Don’t scare me like that!”

“We’ve been calling your name for a while,” Pidge added. “We’re heading in. Are you coming?”

Lance scrambled out of the pod as he forced his heart rate to calm down. He was having more trouble than he would have liked when it came to calming his shaking limbs. He hated these missions. It did a number on him and wasn’t the best for his health.

Shiro placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder as the other two moved off a head, covering the halls ahead of them.

“Lance, are you feeling alright?” He asked.

Lance nodded once as he struggled to find a halfway decent lie that Shiro would believe. “Just want to find Keith.”

Shiro nodded, he could understand that. “We’re all in the same boat. We’re going to get him back, don’t worry.”

Normally, Shiro wouldn’t have flat out promised something like that, but he refused to leave without Keith. Dead or alive, hopefully the latter, he was bringing Keith back.

“Allura, can you hear me?” Shiro asked through the com. Now that they were moving it would be good to check in with the castle. If they needed heavy support it would be good to have contact with the Blades as well as the two Alteans.

“We can hear you,” Coran replied. He sounded worried, but there was no reason for him not to be. “Bring Keith back.”

“We will,” Lance and Shiro replied in unison before they took off to meet up with Hunk and Pidge.

The four of them quietly made their way through the confusing, maze like halls. Shiro was in the front, he knew how these ships worked and he had knowledge of the timed walks the bots were on.

Pidge was typing away at a little screen in her gauntlet. “I’m not sure where we need to go for Keith exactly.” She shook her head. “There are two different prisoner areas. I guess we can go to the control room and I can find more information.”

Shiro frowned. He didn’t like the idea of splitting up the team, but they would waste what little time they had if they all went together. He teetered on the edge of his decision for a moment, frowning and closing his eyes, gathering his thoughts.

“Lance,” Shiro didn’t like this idea, but he didn’t have a choice. “Take Pidge to the control room. Once she’s settled she can lead you back to us. Hunk and I will continue searching for Keith.”

Lance was hurt. He tried not to let it show on his face, but he was pretty sure it was there. Why didn’t Shiro want his help? Didn’t he know how badly he wanted to find Keith? He wouldn’t slow them down. At least, he’d try his best not to.

“Lance, this way,” Pidge said taking off in the other direction, barely waiting for Lance.

He almost stumbled as he struggled to keep up with the little gremlin. He was surprised to see how quickly she moved. He always was when he fought at Pidge’s side. Most people didn’t associate those who were small with moving quickly. They were more likely to associate shorter people with being able to squirm away from situations.

Pidge could do all of that and more. Pidge was a true gremlin. She could squeeze through any small area and spy on people from vents. It was a skill her Bayard assisted her with. It allowed her to stay above her enemies as long as they were in areas like this. He really would have loved to see her fight in a cave-like area. The Balmera tunnels would have been great for her style of fighting.

The breath was knocked out of his lungs when his back was slammed against the wall. He was about to ask Pidge what was up when he heard the heavy metal footsteps echoing through the halls. She dug her fingers into the small gap in armor between his helmet and chest plate, dragging him down to her level.

“Watch what you’re doing!” She hissed when the guards had passed. “I know you want to find Keith, but pay attention or you’re going to get us all killed!”

Lance nodded, he had been trying to pay attention. It wasn’t his fault he kept getting distracted, okay, maybe it was a bit. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he and Pidge moved along the corridor. No one had detected their presence yet, which meant they were still safe—in relative terms.

They made it just outside the command center with no problems. Next came the tricky part, getting in without being seen. From the outside that wasn’t a problem, but the problem came when they had no idea if anyone was inside. Lance looked around there had to be something.

“Maybe I can wire some cameras?” Pidge suggested. “I could use that to see if there’s anyone inside.”

Lance pointed to a small vent above the main door. “Can you get in there? I’ll wait out here so no one shoots at you while you’re sneaking in.”

Pidge rolled her eyes, but analyzed the vent cover. “I can do that.” She looked toward Lance. “Will you be okay?”

“I’m the sharpshooter!” Lance faked being appalled. Then his face grew more serious. “I can handle it. You do your thing and the get me back to Hunk and Shiro.”

Pidge fired her Bayard, hooking it in the ceiling with little trouble. She used it, food in the Bayard handle to hold herself level with the vent cover. It didn’t take her long at all to scrambled in and orient herself. Once she was in the vent above the room she smiled. Now it was time to rain hell upon the poor being inside.

There was no one in there and part of her felt foolish for being so cautious, but then she shook her head. That was stupid. It was better to be cautious than dead. Pidge dropped easily to the floor and ran over to the computer.

“I’m plugging in now!” Pidge’s voice came over their coms. “Hunk, Shiro, what’s your status? There’s sirens going off on the third level.”

“Not us!” Shiro shouted.

“Not anymore!” Hunk added loudly.

“We’re on the fourth and working our way up!” Shiro explained over loud shots of laser guns and Hunk’s screaming. “I think we’re in the wrong spot!”

Pidge shook her head. “I see you guys. Lance, keep going down the same hall. Hunk, Shiro, there’s a hall on your left. Nope you just passed it. Okay, keep going straight—”

Lance shook his head, taking off in the direction he had been told. The directions coming through the com weren’t for him which meant he needed to be going. He was toning out the voices on the other end of his com in favor of listening to his surroundings. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been traveling down the same, creepily lit purple hall.

“The Galra really should invest in some better lighting,” he muttered.

“I’ll be sure to give them your suggestion,” a strangled voice said from behind him.

Lance jumped, spinning around with surprising grace, firing off a few misses with his Bayard as the cloaked figure seemingly vanished only to reappear a few feet to the side. Lance backed himself against the nearest wall. He preferred that, especially with the way this…thing moved.

He shot off a few more rounds, but nothing seemed to hit this thing. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do when another Galra, one with a blade Lance vaguely recognized, slammed the blade into the back of the Druid. The Druid poofed in a puff of black smoke.

Lance had nowhere to go with the Galra commander starring down at him. His heads were steadier than usual when he raised his gun.

“I won’t miss from here,” Lance warned. He didn’t like the dark tone in his voice, but this was war and Keith’s life was on the line.

The Galra held out his hand, he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life. “We can help each other. This belongs to your friend.” Thace handed over the blade Keith usually carried. That’s where Lance had seen the Galra’s blade before. It was bigger and shaped differently than Keith’s but they were definitely the same blade.

Lance risked lowering his Bayard to take the knife. He didn’t have to remove the cloth wrapped around the hilt to know this was Keith’s knife. Lance looked up at the Galra. “Take me to him.”

Thace nodded as Lance stowed away the blade. This must have been the one Ulaz told him about. This one and the one who had been brought in were together and the boy showed it. It was written plainly for everyone to see. What would he do when he saw what his former team mate had become?

“You’re working with the Blades of Marmora?” Lance asked, gun up as he used the scope to peak around corners.

“You’re working with them as well,” Thace replied, earning him a snort from the boy in front of him.

“You’re one of them,” Lance replied. “What’s the knife? Ulaz said Keith would have to do some weird thing to learn about it? Some kind of trial?”

“Ulaz shouldn’t have let your friend keep that knife,” Thace’s voice was close to anger. “Keith is lucky he had it on him. I was able to identify him and keep him alive.”

Lance risked a glance back at the Galra he had teamed up with. “You’re Thace?” There was nothing in his tone that would have suggested he wasn’t impressed. Rather there was a hint of gratitude. “Ulaz told me what you did for Keith. Thank you, for keeping him alive. I know it’s not the easiest thing to do.”

Thace snorted. So, this child knew exactly how Keith was. “You know him well.”

“I should hope so,” Lance replied as he fired off a shot at an oncoming droid. “Keith’s the one who rescued me. If it weren’t for him I’d be dead.” Plus, he’s my boyfriend. But Lance wasn’t quite trusting enough to add that. He had no idea how the Galra would react.

Thace looked down at the human in front of him. He remembered when they’d brought Shiro in. Seeing humans in life or death situations wasn’t new to him, but most didn’t react the way Shiro and Lance were reacting. Those two knew what they were trying to accomplish and then proceeded accordingly. Even as he spoke Lance was shooting at those who might become a problem, never stopping to wonder what would happen next.

Thace stopped outside a door with a large Galra symbol glowing on the front. The Galra commander placed his hand on the door and it opened with a whoosh.

“This is as far as I go, I have to return to my post,” Thace explained. “Take that knife to your friend and get him out.”

Lance nodded before sprinting through the hall of cells as the door closed behind him. He hoped he could get the door back open, or that there was another one somewhere else.

“Keith?” Lance called nervously into the darkness of the hall. He could hear things moving around, but he couldn’t see them. That put him more on edge than he would have expected.

Keith was still curled in the corner of his cell. When he heard his name, his ears perked up. Lance had come for him! Lance was here, which meant everyone else was here as well. He wanted to call out, to have Lance free him, but he couldn’t. What would Lance do to him? He wanted to shout for Lance. To be in Lance’s arms, but what he do? Would Lance even believe it was him?

“Keith!” Lance tried again, his voice filling with fear.

It hurt Keith’s heart to hear Lance sounding that desperate. “Lance.” He called quietly. He didn’t want Lance to see him like this, but he couldn’t let Lance go through this place alone. Something would kill him.

“Keith!” Lance skidded to a stop in front of Keith’s cell. “Keith! You’re alive! You…” His voice trailed off when he actually got a look at Keith. He could see the swirling white-tipped, purple fur that covered Keith’s tall ears. He could see a tail tucked nervously between Keith’s legs. There were yellow eyes that watered and purple, tearstained cheeks. All in all, it was different and a bit terrifying, but there was no doubting that stupid mullet belonged to Keith.

Lance shot off the lock and within seconds of the door swinging open had Keith in his arms. “I’ve got you. You won’t have to be alone anymore.”

Keith buried his nose in Lance’s neck. His sense of smell must have gotten stronger, he didn’t think the smell of rain and cookies had ever been so prominent.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Lance said, gently pulling Keith out of the cell. “The pods aren’t too far.”

Keith shook his head. “No, we have to go somewhere. There’s this room. Something’s there that we need. I don’t know what, but we have to!”

“Okay, okay,” Lance’s voice was gentle. For the most part, he was trying to keep Keith from going completely crazy. There was no way Keith’s mind was in a good place right now. Lance couldn’t have him running off alone and throwing himself into danger. “Where’s this room?”

Keith’s brow furrowed in thought as Lance radioed to the others. “I found Keith, but change of plans. There’s this room we need to see? Keith’s going to take me there. Pidge, can you lead Shiro and Hunk to my location?”

“Got it!” Pidge replied. “Guys, when you’re done blowing our cover take a sharp left and then a right go straight then take another right.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and pulled him in the direction Thace had given him. “We have to be close.”

As they ran Lance put the knife in Keith’s hand. Keith’s gaze lowered and his yellow eyes seemed to light up.

“You found my knife?” He asked. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to hug Lance, but they were in the middle of a battle. This day wasn’t turning out so badly. He at least had a weapon again.

“Thace gave it to me,” Lance said quietly. “Are you sure this is the right direction?”

“Lance!” Shiro’s voice startled him.

Lance and Keith turned quickly and it was just as Keith feared. Everyone was staring at him in fear, weapons easily level with him. They didn’t see him any differently than the many Galra they had killed.

He could see the hurt and anger on Shiro’s face. His adopted brother wasn’t even trying to hide it. Shiro didn’t know it was him. Not between the wide eyes that kept fluctuating between terror and anger. The look alone made Keith recoil, he wanted to move toward Lance for comfort, but right now that would have only been taken as a threatening gesture so he curled his tail around one of his legs and pretended he was going to be okay.

Pretended that Shiro wasn’t looking at him like he wanted nothing more than to rip him apart. Pretend that Pidge wasn’t looking at him like he was the one who had destroyed her family. Pretend that Hunk, sweet, sweet Hunk didn’t have that large, terrifying Bayard aimed right at him.

“Lance, are you hurt?” Hunk asked, he looked terrified. From where he was standing it looked as though he was expecting some kind of hostage situation.

“What? No, I’m fine,” Lance was confused, looking between Keith and their friends. “Look we have to go in this room. There’s something important there.”

Shiro’s arm was activated and Lance saw the man about to lunge forward. That was when everything clicked in his head. They didn’t recognize Keith and Shiro was going to kill him.

Well, there was no way he was going to let that happen. Without hesitation Lance stepped between them, gun aimed at Shiro’s chest. He was going to get in trouble for this later, but if it kept everyone from killing Keith it was probably worth it.

“Shiro, stop,” Lance’s voice was firm and commanding. Not a tone he typically took with Shiro, but he knew Shiro wasn’t going to stop any other way.

“Lance!” It was Keith who shouted first. “Lance, stop!”

Lance didn’t move, his Bayard still aimed at Shiro’s chest. The two were glaring at each other until Keith spoke, then Shiro’s head turned toward the Galra behind Lance.

“Keith?” Shiro asked, eyes wide and frightened.

At that look Keith shuffled behind Lance, ears twitching. He could hear the footsteps of Galra soldiers moving toward them not to mention the shouting from a voice he didn’t recognize. Keith tugged on Lance’s arm, pulling him around.

“We don’t have enough time for this!” Keith was close to panicking. It wasn’t his style, but he couldn’t explain the fear that was crawling up his spine at the moment. Only that he knew it was complete and paralyzing. If he didn’t move now he’d never be able to move again.

Lance nodded to Keith and the half-galra took off toward the door. He pressed his hand to the panel and the doors opened. The five of them ran in before Keith slammed the door closed. An alarm was blaring, but at least the guards would be closed off for a while.

The room was tall, ridiculously so. Lance was sure Pidge’s Bayard couldn’t even reach a fourth of the way to the top. Circled around the room were tall metal lions, each one colored coded. In front of each lion was a containment pod and a small display box.

The only displays that had anything in them were the two in front of the red lion and the small display box in front of the black lion.

In the containment pod before the red lion was Keith’s Paladin armor and he wasted no time in opening the pod and throwing it on. He couldn’t explain how much better he felt wearing this armor. He had open wounds and cuts that scraped beneath the armor, but there was nothing he could do about that now. At least he had some semblance of protection.

Keith pulled his helmet over his ears and instantly felt more like himself. Now his ears were covered. They didn’t sit well in his helmet the pain was slight, but not enough to bother him. With his helmet, he could pretend that he didn’t look like this. He could convince himself there wasn’t an extra appendage wrapped around his leg. It had been the only way he could think to keep his tail protected.

Shiro on the other hand was walking to the display case holding the Bayard that matched the armor he was wearing. “My Bayard?”

“But that was lost with-“ Pidge stopped as she took stock of the situation. “These are the Lions of Voltron?”

Lance stepped up to the blue lion, a wide smile across his face. “You’re beautiful.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when the particle barrier around the blue lion fell. Everyone stared at Lance in awe and amazement.

“How did you do that?” Hunk asked walking up to the yellow lion.

“I don’t know,” Lance replied as there was a loud banging on the door. “We need to go!”

Most of the lions dropped their shields allowing the paladins to run in. All of them except the red lion. Keith stood under the red lion in confusion.

“C’mon!” Keith growled. “I don’t have time for this!”

Just then the door fell onto the floor with a metal clatter causing him to jump in that direction. Keith pulled out his Bayard holding it defensively.

“This is my lion!” Keith snapped. “And I’m leaving with it.”

The first few droids that came through the door were taken out by a blue light shooting from above Keith’s shoulder.

Keith risked five seconds to glance behind him and see Lance sitting on top of the Blue Lion’s nose.

“Lance get in your lion and go!” Keith snapped.

Lance shook his head, but Keith had charged into the bots coming after him. What Keith did hear was Lance’s sharp voice through the coms. “Not this time, buddy. I’m not leaving you.”

Keith growled as he ripped through a bot with his Bayard. “I’m useless to you Lance! To everyone! I look like our enemy!”

“I’m not leaving you,” Lance repeated his tone growing firmer. “No one here cares what you look like. You’re a part of our family and family never gets left behind.”

“Or forgotten!” Hunk chimed in.

“Now is not the time for Disney references!” Pidge snapped over the coms.

Keith smiled. He may have been in the middle of a fight, but nothing had changed. Now that they knew it was him they were more relaxed. They had gone back to their usual banter and for the first time ever, Keith felt like he had a family.

It was about then that he was knocked off balance, his Bayard flying from his hand as he slid. He rolled, catching himself and launching to his feet, the small Galra blade drawn. Lance was here for him and so were the others.

They were staying because he was here. Lance was right. No matter what he looked like. No matter who he was, they would accept him. It might be difficult for some of them, Allura was the one who came to mind, but they would keep him safe. They were his family and he belonged with them.

The small knife that he had been holding started to glow. It was a soft, soothing light that seemed to make all of the fighting around him stop. He could hear the small gasp from Lance and Hunk when it started. The scene of scattered Galra bodies was now covered in a lilac glow. It gave the entire room a dream-like quality.

Hunk was the first one to regain his voice. “Keith activate you’re helmet! I have an idea!”

Keith, still in a slight state of awe as his blade grew and the light glinted at every angle. In short it was beautiful. He did, however, hear what Hunk had said and as soon as his helmet was fully protecting him he dove for his Bayard.

That was when Hunk slammed the yellow lion into the wall of the ship. These weren’t small ships, but seeing how easily the ship tore as the yellow lion effortlessly pushed its way through was terrifying. It made Keith feel like he’d been trapped in a tin can.

With a hole of that size only the black lion had trouble slipping through. Hunk had to pull at the hole from the outside to enlarge it. Once black was out Lance and Pidge followed in their lions. In seconds, all of the lions were flying outside of the ship. All of them except the red lion. It sat, with its barrier up, unaffected by the world around it.

Honestly, watching the red lion was frustrating. It was like it didn’t care. It sat aloof, as though it was okay with the world being destroyed. Like no matter what happened, the lion would sit, unmoving through every explosion and then float through space only to be picked up and traded off as a trinket to the highest bidder.

Despite the vacuum of space yanking at his feet, Keith pulled himself toward the Red Lion. He was wearing the armor; didn’t that mean he too was a Paladin? When he’d been given the armor Allura told him he would have made a good Red Paladin. So why? Why wasn’t the Red Lion responding to him? What was he doing wrong?

Keith could hear Lance through the com having the time of his life while Coran tried explaining the history of the lions to the others. Why couldn’t he do this? Lance had been able to! Lance of all people could hop into a giant, robotic, alien war ship and pilot it with no problems? This wasn’t fair! Keith had been the best pilot in his class at the Garrison, he had even surpassed some of the pilots in Shiro’s class! Why couldn’t he get this lion to listen?

He reached for the next object he could use to pull himself toward the Red Lion. “I know you don’t want to be here.” He was yelling over the rushing air and Lance’s joyful shouts. “Let me help you!”

He was so close to the barrier now. His fingers could just barely brush against the red shield, but just when he was a hair’s breath away something slammed into his helmet, knocking him away. It was only seconds until Keith was sucked out of the hole in the side of the ship, spiraling head over heels into the abyss of space.

He was spiraling among the Galra fighters, a prime target for anyone who saw him. Which didn’t take nearly as long as he would have liked. In seconds, there was a Galra fighter taking aim. Keith stared it down, with just a knife there wasn’t much he could do. This was it. This was how death came to him. Taken out by a Galra fighter in space where he couldn’t do more than stay here like a sitting duck.

Then multiple things happened at once. The Blue Lion slammed into a splayed stop between Keith and the oncoming beam of light. He could hear Lance grunt in pain over the intercom just as the red lion rushed out of the hole created by the other lions.

“Lance! Next time leave the saving to me!” Hunk scolded. “My lion is built for that kind of stuff.”

“I was there,” Lance pointed out with only the slightest bit of worry slipping through.

Keith shook his head at the two of them as the red lion opened her mouth and Keith almost saw his life flash before his eyes. He had just narrowly avoided dying, thanks to Lance’s stupidity or bravery, once, now he was going to die because he wasn’t good enough for this lion.

He heard something purr in his brain, almost like it was laughing at him. He fell on the cold metal of the mouth before running along the walk way that led to the control room located in the lion’s head.

“You okay, Keith?” Lance asked, the pain was clear in his voice. His lion must have taken a hit.

“I’m good,” Keith replied taking the controls of the Red Lion. “Let’s see what this kitty can do.” It took him half a second to streak across the blackness of space leaving behind a thin trail of red.

“Keith! That’s amazing!” Lance said excitedly. “Now help me get these fighters off my tail!”

Keith chuckled as he felt something that wasn’t his own emotion seeping into his brain. Love? Maybe he wasn’t sure. It felt more questioning than love, but it had the same feeling then it clicked. Red was asking him if he loved Lance. Keith nodded, feeling his face heat up at the question. He shot at a few of the fighters on Lance’s tail and tucked Red into a nose dive.

“I wish I could move that fast!” Lance exclaimed as he whipped his lion around and shot at a few Galra fighters. “Hush, you know I love you. We just met and I can already tell you—”

“Lance! Stop flirting with your lion!” Keith growled through the coms.

“Aww, you’re no fun!” Lance whined. “She loves it! Isn’t that right?” Then he giggled, actually giggled.

Keith frowned, shaking his head lovingly and he could feel red in the back of his head. If the lions could talk he was pretty sure she’d be singing that kissing in a tree song. He shook his head in an attempt to get her to stop and she did, for a moment, but the hum came back. Louder, but a bit kinder.

“What’s that?” Pidge asked, pulling the green lion into Keith’s peripherals.

They were facing the direction of the main ship when they were faced with a large, black, billowing figure. All of them were taken back by the sight.

“Zarkon?” Coran asked uncertainly. “Ten thousand years has not been kind to him.”

“Coran!” Allura snapped. “This is not the time. Paladins, you need to get out of there! You can’t take on Zarkon. You just got the lions and you need more time.”

“No,” Keith growled. He may have been going against orders, but he could feel Red’s anger behind him. They had to stand and fight. They didn’t have a choice, not this time.

“We have to do what the original Paladins couldn’t,” Lance continued, though it didn’t exactly sound like himself. It was still Lance, but there was something behind his voice, something stronger.

“Black says we have to stay,” Shiro added. “We can finish him now. The lions are tired of being at his mercy and so is the universe.”

“Yeah, I’m with them,” Hunk added. “Yellow’s saying the same thing. You don’t know what he did to them.”

“They’re almost like living beings,” Pidge continued. “And Zarkon tried to tear them apart. He wanted to see how they worked and destroy them.”

 

Allura looked at Coran, almost in fear. She knew those weren’t her team mates, her friends, speaking. Those voices were the ones that belonged to the lions. She’d never heard of them speaking through their Paladins before, but then even her father hadn’t known everything about the lions when they were built. Maybe this was just something they were able to do.

Coran gave her small nod of approval. The new paladins had fought side by side for some time now. Not nearly as much as their predecessors, but they were a family. If the lions thought they could defeat Zarkon, if the lions felt they had to speak through their respective paladin to be heard this needed to come to an end here and now.

“Alright,” Allura’s voice sounded certain, but inside she was a tumble of emotions. She wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, or even if it would work. If this didn’t work there would be no one to stop Zarkon and he would reign forever, but someone had to try. So, why not them?


	20. It Ends Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it took me so long to get this one to you guys. I've fallen away from the fandom so this last chapter isn't the best, but I couldn't leave this unfinished with one chapter left.

“Paladins!” Allura shouted through the com. Her body tingled at just saying that word. There was so much riding on those words. They were the new hope for the universe. These young humans were going to be the ones who had even a remote chance of defeating Zarkon.

It gave her hope, but it also scared her. These were the kids she had come to consider her family. She didn’t want to send them into battle with the universe’s singular emperor. They had been trying to undermine this empire for years. Here they were, handed this opportunity on a platter and as much as she wanted to jump in, tell these new Paladins to fight, they were still her family. What if this was a huge mistake? What was she supposed to do? Take Voltron and hope she found new Paladins?

Allura shook her head. Now was not the time for doubts. Now was the time for action, to take care of the Galra empire. It was time to bring it to its knees.

“Be careful,” she added, almost forgetting she had spoken. “Listen to your lions and each other. The lions are mystical beings which we don’t fully understand. In trusting them, your bond will only strengthen, and you will be able to unlock unimaginable powers.”

As she spoke Coran was watching the Paladins get the hang of their lions. It was clear they’d never flown them before, but they were doing better than he would have expected. He was beaming with pride when he saw Lance do a complete flip in the blue lion to get a fighter off Hunk’s tail.

Coran could remember what it felt like to watch Alfor fly those lions with the original Paladins at his side. Seeing this, the revival of Voltron, it filled him with joy. The war with Zarkon and the Galra would finally be over. The universe could be at peace again. There was still the issue of dealing with Earth, but he had no doubt the Paladins would figure it out. This was it. He was elated, his hands jittery as they hovered above his control panel.

That was when the purple electricity shot out from Zarkon’s ship. Kolivan, who was standing on the bridge made a displeased noise. This wasn’t good. Thace had been feeding them possible information about Haggar and Zarkon having a secret weapon that could supposedly rival Voltron, should it escape. He had hoped it wouldn’t be operational, but that was not the case.

He shook his head, never mind that. They had planned for this; the new Paladins should be able to make this work.

 

The five Paladins watched the lightening. Two of them were petrified while the other three were simply staring on in fear. At first it was nothing more than the lightening, which was terrifying, but it was nothing compared to the black figure making its way toward them. The figure had black armor and stood much taller than any one of the lions.

“Shiro?” Lance was the one to hesitantly break the silence. “What do we do?”

“We fight!” Keith snapped, Lance could almost hear him slam his controls into place.

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice startled all of the Paladins. Everyone could see red just about to streak off through the starts only to jerk, shake, and fall still. Once Shiro was sure Keith wasn’t going to do anything reckless he continued. “Keith, we need to be careful. We can’t just run in, we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

Shiro glared out the window of the black lion. He wasn’t glaring at anyone in particular, he just had anger he needed to place. He knew exactly who this was and judging by Keith’s reaction the half-Galra knew as well. They were staring at Zarkon. Or at least, the robot version of him.

“Okay team,” Shiro’s voice was certain and strong. He wasn’t sure how it did it, the level of confidence in his voice was surprising even to himself. “He may be bigger than us, but we can maneuver, don’t get to close. Does everyone understand?” He got an assortment of affirmations, all except one. “Keith?”

At first, he wasn’t sure what to think. Maybe that Keith was ignoring him for telling the hot-headed pirate that he couldn’t attack Zarkon before they had some semblance of a plan? Maybe Keith was still reeling over seeing Zarkon?

“Sorry, Red was talking,” Keith replied. “She says we have to come together to defeat him.”

“Come together?” Lance asked uncertainly. If anyone had expected him to know what that meant they were SOL. He sat in slight confusion until the Zarkon-bot (he was going to have to come up with a better name later) started booking it toward them, drawing a sword.

The lions scattered rushing off in, for the most part, different directions. The only two with the same relative path were Shiro and Keith.

“Shiro, I don’t think we should be splitting up,” Keith said quietly. “Red said something about flying together.”

“We need to form Voltron,” Pidge replied. “We need to figure out how to get five lions to create one giant robot.”

“We have to fly in formation,” Lance replied as he spun under a laser beam. It clipped the leg of the blue lion and Lance winced, not in pain but sympathy. “It’s okay girl.” He patted the arm rest of the seat. “We’ll win this.”

Keith was next to find himself at the business end of this enemy robot. Rad was faster than he would have expected. She wasted no time in shooting upwards into the darkness, easily dodging between beams that would tear holes in her.

“Keith!” Shiro shouted over the sounds of battle. “Get over here!”

Keith spun Red into her spot and something clicked in all of them. Keith felt the closest to his family that he had ever felt before. He swore he could feel Lance’s consciousness brush against his own in a way that was foreign to him. Foreign, but not unwelcome.

Lance was a calming force, despite the boy’s energy. He always seemed so sure of himself. Keith had to admit he was jealous. He felt Red purr in the back of his mind before she became all he could think about. Through her he could feel the other lions. The five lions came together, latching in place and forming the huge robot they had been told about only in fairy tales.

Voltron. Voltron was here, and they were piloting it. Keith suddenly realized he was part of something much bigger than himself. He was part of a team who would take down the empire. For the first time since they’d started it seemed possible. It was here, the light at the end of the tunnel. They could do this.

Even as he was thinking it, Voltron was drawing a sword and flying toward Zarkon’s monster. The fight lasted a few minutes, though to the paladins it seemed like hours. Voltron returned to the castle the victor. Pieces of Zarkon’s ship floated in space, never to be rebooted or used again. Zarkon was dead. Keith had searched the wreckage to ensure himself of that before returning to the castle.

Allura and Coran had better reactions to his new appearance than Keith had been expecting. That was a small comfort as Lance helped him out of his armor and into a healing pod. Everything hurt, but it would be alright. He was safe now. The universe was safe. Zarkon had been defeated and now all they had to do was put the universe back together. Easier said than done, but he could worry about that after he woke up.


End file.
